One Less Mistake
by Narcolover
Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20, and she married Christopher when she did? AU. Narco, Balcony Buds. Finished!
1. Same Old Rory

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris, with possible Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: Lorelai got pregnant 4 years later, so Rory is 4 years younger than all the other characters that were her age on the show, but I made Tristin, Madeline and Louise her age, so that there would be some familiar faces at Chilton.

It was the first day of Rory Hayden's senior year at Chilton. Only one year left before Harvard. No one had expected her to go to Harvard. The Haydens wanted her at Princeton, and the Gilmores wanted her at Yale. Only her parents, Lorelai and Christopher Hayden had been happy with her desicion to go to Harvard, assuming she got in. It wasn't that she didn't think Yale and Princeton were as good as Harvard, it was that she didn't want to alienate half of her family. Harvard was the perfect compromise, mixed with the largest college library in the country.

"Rory, please don't say you're thinking about Harvard again." One of Rory's best friends, Louise Grant complained.

"Yeah. I swear, it's all you ever think about." Madeline Lynn, her other best friend chimed in.

"It is not!" Rory complained.

"Then why are you over here with us instead of off with Tristin?" Louise challenged.

"For the last time, I'm not into him! Anyways, you're seeing what is it? 4 guys?"

"3. Leo dumped me after he found out about Adam."

"Exactly. You have 3 boyfriends. You don't see me saying all you ever think about is Harvard since you're here with me and Madeline instead of off with one of your three boyfriends." Madeline and Louise looked at each other. "What?"


	2. Stars Hollow Happenings

**One Less Mistake**

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris, with possible Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Dean Forrester checked his cell phone while standing outside his dorm room. He wanted to hear what had happened when his high school friend, Jess Mariano proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Lindsay Lister. The dynamics between the three of them had always been a little odd since Dean and Lindsay had dated for a couple years, but it wasn't like Jess stole Lindsay from him. Dean and Lindsay had been broken up for over six moths before she started dating Jess. There were three messages on his voicemail, but none were from Jess. One was his boss calling to tell him that they had a job fixing some house in the rich part of town. That was good, he needed the money to help pay for next semester's tuition. The next was Lindsay's best friend, Lane Kim calling to try to pump information from him. Of course Lane would know that Jess was planning something, and that Dean would know if he was, and that it was much easier to get information out of Dean than Jess. He deleted the message so he wouldn't be able to let anything slip. The last message was from Jess' uncle, Luke, offering him a couple shifts at the diner in case he needed more money for college, and to see if he wanted to come home for a free meal. Luke had loved Dean like a son sincehe got a job at the diner when he moved to Stars Hollow from Chicago. Luke helped Dean whenever he needed a hand, so when Luke's nephew, Jess, moved to town from New York City, Dean had been nice to him as a favor to Luke, but they ended up being really good friends. Dean dialed a very familiar phone number.

"Hey Luke."

"Dean! How's school?"

"It's fine."

"Oh yeah? How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I actually just got a job fixing some millionaire's house."

"A millionaire?"

"I don't know. Some rich guy named Christopher Hayden."

"Sounds fun." even over the phone Dean could hear the sarcasm dripping from Luke's voice.

"Yeah. Loads of it. How are you?"

"Eh, fine, normal."

"How's Stars Hollow? Taylor still trying to get you to repaint the diner?"

"Seven solid years, he has not gone a week without commenting on the paint job, and how much it needs to be redone."

"Well, it is Taylor. Anything happen that I should know about? Or that you just feel like telling me about?"

"Jess didn't propse yet, if that's what you're getting at."

"I didn't mean to be getting at anything. I just wanted to know what was going on."

"Oh. Well, Lulu's pregnant."

"Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm sorry. I'm serious."

"There will be a mini-Kirk in nine months?"

"Better than a Doosey family reuinion."

"True. Poor Sookie and Mia had to put up with all of them for the whole weekend. At least they only ate at the diner once."

"Which was one time too many. It didn't help that you and Jess were upstairs, laughing hysterically whenever you heard me yelling, or breaking anything."

"It was funny."

"Would you have found it so funny if you were in the diner?"

"Point taken."

"So, even though you're fixing Mr. Moneybags' house, you can still come back, take a couple shifts, have dinner with me, and maybe Jess."

"Yeah, sure, sounds fun. We can help you torture Taylor."

"Excellent. Come by any time to work. How does Friday sound for dinner?"

"Great. I'll see you there."


	3. I hate gazebos

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: Topher, short for Christopher, is Lorelai and Chris' son. He's two years younger than Rory.

Fox24-thanks

Lorelai Hayden paced her study, and tried Chris' cell phone number again. How the hell could he have hired a construction crew to work on their house without even talking to her? To build a gazebo in their backyard. She didn't want a gazebo in the backyard. Why would Chris want the stupid gazebo. What was the point of a gazebo in your backyard anyways? Especially if you had to pay for it a year before your daughter went to Harvard, and three years before your son went to Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. That's six years, and for two of them, they'd be paying double. And what was the point of a gazebo anyways? She hated gazebos.

"Mom? Dad?" Topher yelled from the enryway.

"In here!" Lorelai called angrily.

"Wow, Mom, why are you so mad?"

"Your father decided we need a gazebo, hired a construction crew, and paid for it! Without bothering to tell me! Why would he do something like that? Where are you going?" she demanded as he slipped out of the door.

"To get you coffee."

"Oh. Thank you. You're my favorite son."

"You say that to all your sons."

"Yes, but I only mean it with you."

"Hey, Toph, how do you feel about making me coffee to help me study." Rory yelled as she walked into the house.

"Okay, I'll make you some too." Topher groaned.

"Oh. Thank you. You're my favorite brother."

"You say that to all your brothers."

"Yes, but I only mean it with you."

"Nice try, the other Lorelai just said that to me. Did you rehearse it last night?"

"When would we have had time to rehearse it? Silly brother..." Rory started.

"Scripts are for kids." Lorelai finished.

"If you two keep being parrots, you don't get coffee." Toper shot at them.

"We're done now, promise." Lorelai said, making her eyes as big as she could.

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Dean pulled up at the big house. Just as big as he thought it would be. Don was standing by the house, waiting for him.

"Please say it's not just the two of us." Dean implored.

"Sorry, kid, it's just building a gazebo out back."

"By winter?"

"Unfortunately."

"Okay, let's get started."

"That's the spirit, kid." Don grinned toothily at Dean, and rang the bell. A very pretty woman holding a huge mug of coffee opened the door.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm Don, this is Dean. We were hired by a Christopher Hayden to build the gazebo in the backyard."

"Come on in. Kitchen's straight down the hall, take a left, eat anything you can find, drink anything you can find, but if you drink any of the coffee, make more. My daughter and I need all we can get. Girl with the halo, coffee and the book is Rory, senior at Chilton, top of her class. Boy with the halo, no coffee and science periodical is Topher, sophmore at Chilton, top of his class. I have a phone call to make." She said coldly, glaring at them until they went in.

"I don't think she likes us very much." Dean muttered as they walked into the kitchen. A boy with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and holding a confusing scientific-looking paper looked up.

"You're the construction guys? Don't take it personally. Dad didn't ask her about the gazebo, and she's mad at him."

"Coffee ready yet Toph?" Rory asked as she walked into the room, crashing into Dean. "Oh. Sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Who are you?"

"Dean Forrester."

"Oh. I'm Rory Hayden. Well, it's really Lorelai Hayden, but no one calls me that, because that's my mother's name. She named me herself, my dad was on a business trip, and she was sitting in the hospital thinking that men name boys after themselves all the time, so why shouldn't women. At least that's what she says, but I personally think that a lot of Demerol went into making that decision. I never talk this much."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Rory Lorelai Hayden."

"You too...Dean...Forrester."

AN: I know I stole a lot of this Rory/Lorelai dialogue from the show, or twisted a lot of the things they said, but that was on purpose.


	4. same old fights

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, withLor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Rory pictured him in her head. His perfect dark hair, his eyes, his height. She was such an idiot. He probably thought she was incapable of coherent thought. Some dumb rich girl who went to an expensive prep school that was supposedly for really smart people, but she could only go because her parents bribed the headmaster.

"Hey Mary!" a familiar, unwelcome voice chorused.

"Tristan. How nice to see you." she growled.

"I was thinking, maybe you'd like to go see a movie with me tonight."

"It's the second day of school."

"What's your point?"

"You couldn't even go through two days without hitting on me. Besides, it's a Wednesday."

"Again, what's your point?"

"We have to get up early for school tomorrow morning, plus I have to study."

"It's the second day of school. What's there to study?"

"And spend time with my family." and hope that Dean would hear one of her sparring matches with her mother so he would know that she wasn't the scarecrow from the "Wizard of Oz," but she wasn't going to tell Tristan that.

"Your family will be there tomorrow night."

"Get lost, Tristan."

"Wow, Rory, way to go." Louise purred as she walked up and slipped her arm through the crook of her friend's elbow.

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"Christopher Hayden! A gazebo? What on earth were you thinking? Why didn't you talk to me! It's my house, and my money, too, you know!" Lorelai screeched at her husband who was just descending the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Lor, I didn't think you'd mind."

"Didn't think I'd mind? Then why the hell were you hiding from me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why were you hiding from me? Last night, I was determined to wait until you got home so I could yell at you. I waited until 1:00, but no one came in the house. I woke up in the morning, and you weren't in bed. I came down, had a cup of coffee, got ready to go to the office, and down you come. Why were you hiding from me?"

"I didn't want you to be mad at me."

"But you just said you thought I wouldn't."

"Lor..."

"Chris, call and cancel that gazebo! I don't want a gazebo."

"Why not?"

"Because...because...I hate gazebos...and...fine, you know what, forget it, I'm sick of always fighting with you. Get your stupid gazebo. See if I care."


	5. twice in one day

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

A couple weeks after the construction crew had first come, Rory walked out onto the balcony from her room, put her coffee cup on the little table, and sat in the lawn chair she had brought up, opening her book. She hadn't been out on her balcony since the summer, she'd been too afraid that Dean would see her, and think she was only out there because she was hoping he'd look up at her.

It was a beautiful day, and she never had any trouble concentrating on good books when she was outside on a beautiful day, but today her eyes kept wandering down, and into the backyard. As if he could feel her eyes on him, Dean turned around and smiled up at her.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Hey!" she called back.

"What are you reading?"

"Wuthering Heights."

"Really? I just read that last week."

"Do you read a lot?"

"Not as much as my friend, but some."

"Hey, kid." the other man admonished. "Get back to work." he shrugged, and cocked his hand at her before turning back to his task before he could see the hand she'd lifted tentatively. She couldn't believe she'd talked to him. Intelligently. And he hadn't seem to think she was the biggest idiot on earth.

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It wasn't until 6:00 that Don told Dean he could go. He walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water, since Lorelai's offer to help themselves to whatever they wanted, provided they replace any coffee had been permanently extended. Rory was standing by the counter, watching the coffee machine as if it might drip faster the harder she stared at it.

"You know, a watched coffee pot never drips." he said as he grabbed a glass from the counter and went to fill it up at the sink.

"Dean, hey." she stuttered, whirling around to face him.

"Seeing you twice in one day...to what do I owe this honor?"

"Oh, well, I don't know. I'm always here. Well, not _here _obviously. Topher usually makes the coffee, Mom and I get impatient and throw things, and Dad gets mad and calls us junkies, but Toph's at a friend's for the night, so I'm on coffee duty."

"I can take over for you, if you want. So you don't throw anything."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"I was just about to make one of those microwave soup bowls. Want one?"

"Yeah, sure, if it's not too much trouble."

"Please. You're making the coffee, that earned you at least 10 soup bowls. We have some tater tots in the freezer, too. I could make those to help cut into your 10 soups."

"Tater tots and soup?"

"Yeah, well, that's the extent of my culinary skills. Once again, Topher's area of expertise. Ever since Mom got mad and fired the maid for burning the coffee we've been living on Topher's cooking, take out, and slight variations on what I just offered you."

"How do you burn coffee?"

"Exactly! My mother wouldn't fire a maid for a little thing out of fear of becoming Emily Gilmore, but for something as inexplicable and awful as burning coffee..."

"Who's Emily Gilmore?"

"Her mother. She goes through maids like kleenex. And is basically the bane of Lorelai's existence." he laughed, and walked over, taking her place by the coffee machine.

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Lorelai walked towards the kitchen to see how Rory was coming with the coffee and dinner, but stopped short before she walked in. The construction boy was standing only feet from Rory, laughing at something she said. She turned on her heel and stalked to the opposite end of the house.


	6. Lorelai is Emily Gilmore

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Thanks for the reviews, Kiss and make up & born-on-sunday

"CHRISTOPHER!" Lorelai yelled.

"What is it now, Lor?" he asked wearily.

"I want those construction workers gone, and I want them gone now!"

"You said you didn't want to fight about this."

"Yeah, well, that was before I saw one of them standing about six inches away from our daughter."

"You're exaggerating."

"No, I'm not. Okay, maybe it was more like three feet, but that's not the point."

"What is the point then?"

"The point is...he's in his twenties. And he's a carpenter. He'll hold her back. She's going to go to Harvard, she shouldn't be flirting with a carpenter fresh out of community college!"

"Okay, I'll get different people to work on it."

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Rory ran up to her parents room and flopped onto their bed as if she were 7 again.

"You seem happy, Ror." Chris commented as she lay there, grinning.

"I am." she laughed.

"Because of the older worker?" Lorelai snapped. "Because if that's what this is about, you can just forget it. He's fired."

"You can't fire him Mom! He needs this job."

"Yeah, exactly. He needs to work as a carpenter."

"To get through college! It could have easily been you, you know. If you hadn't married Dad, Grandma and Grandpa would have cut you off, and then you would have had to pay for college."

"What did he do to make his parents cut him off?"

"He wanted to go to an actual college instead of a community college. He wanted to be an editor instead of a mechanic. He's been supporting himself for the past three years. Which you would have known if you'd asked him. But you just wrote him off as the carpenter. My god, you're just like Grandma!" she yelled as she stormed out of the room. Lorelai looked after her, then turned sadly to Chris.

"Forget everything I just said." she whispered, and ran after Rory.

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"Rory." she called, banging on the door again. "Rory, I didn't mean it. I just...I saw you talking to him, and a flipped. I would have done that over any guy." Rory opened the door, and let her mother in.

"It's okay. I've never freaked out like that over a guy before." she whispered.

"I shouldn't have freaked out Iike that. It's just...you're growing up."

"I just really like him. And I want you to like him."

"If he's so important to you, l want to like him, too. And I usually get what I want."

"You really are like Emily Gilmore."

"Bite your tongue!"

"Since when do you say things like 'bite your tongue?'"

AN: I was going to have Lorelai say the bit about getting what she wantsto Dean, like she did on the show, but it just seemed to fit here.


	7. nightclub

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Dean woke up to the incessant ringing of his cell phone. He groaned and flipped it open.

"Whoever this is should know better than to call at three in the morning, so this had better be good." he snapped.

"She said yes!" a familiar voice trilled.

"Jess?"

"Yeah, who else?"

"Since when are you giddy at three in the morning? Hell, since when are you 'giddy' at all. I've known you for almost six years, and not once have I heard you use a tone that could be considered giddy, even in the loosest sense of the word. And no matter how strictly you define it, that was giddy."

"But she said yes."

"Lindsay?"

"Yeah. Have you always been this slow?"

"At THREE IN THE MORNING? Yeah, I'm actually pretty quick on the uptake for the time right now. So good going. You finally asked her to marry you."

"Yeah."

"You said you were going to about three weeks ago."

"I wanted the time to be right."

"Wait a second, you just proposed?"

"Yeah."

"As in JUST proposed."

"Yeahhhhh."

"You waited three weeks for the right time to propose to her, and you JUST proposed to her."

"For the last time, YEAH!"

"AT THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING?"

"YES! My god, you've never been such an idiot in your LIFE!"

"The best time you could find to propose in three weeks was at three in the morning. Nice. I'm going back to sleep."

"Wait, will you meet me at that club near your dorm tonight? So I can tell you the details without you yelling at me."

"Yeah, sure, why not? Goodnight."

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"Come on, Rory, you never have any fun." Madeline whined.

"I have fun, I just don't go to to clubs, get wasted, and make out with random guys." Rory shot back.

"Yeah, Rory, come with us." Louise begged.

"No. I don't want to go any more tonight than I have for the past year, which is how long you've been begging me to go for."

"Right, so you owe us." Louise grabbed Rory's arm and started dragging her to the closet.

"But...but...I don't want to!" She whined.

"If you go, we promise not to ever ask you again." Madeline offered.

"Okay, fine. But just for the record, I hate you both."

"And the other part of the deal is that you have to wear whatever we choose for you, in exchange for never harrassing you about DuGrey." Louise quickly added.

"As long as I don't have to drink, and you don't dress me in anything sluttier than you're wearing."

"Deal." Madeline and Louise agreed together, and turned away to search for something to make her wear.

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Dean glanced at his watch. Jess was late again. Great.

Rory adjusted her skirt again, trying to pull it down enough that it covered more of her legs.

"Okay, Rory, we need to go over the rules again." Louise said, pulling Rory's hands away from the hem of her skirt.

"Rules? What rules? You didn't say anything about rules!" she cried.

"Okay, rule number one: no fiddling with your clothes." she said firmly.

"What? No! That's not fair! I want something else in exchange for that!"

"Rule number two: you have to have fun. Rule number three: you have to have at least one drink."

"No, to both. I can sit here and make you miserable for making me come if I want, and one of my conditions was that you couldn't make me drink anything."

"Okay then, you have to dance at least one dance."

"No. Louise, I don't want to dance."

"We snuck you in here."

"Against my will."

"You agreed to it."

"Reluctantly."

"But this means no more harassing about Tristan DuGrey. And no more begging you to come with us."

"Doesn't mean I didn't come reluctantly." she grumbled, sliding down in her seat, then yelped and pulled herself back up. "My skirt got caught on the chair." she said quickly, trying, and failing, to get Madeline and Louise to stop laughing.

Dean looked at his watch again. Maybe Jess was standing him up because he was mad that he'd yelled at him. Or maybe he was with Lindsay, and had lost track of the time. Dean didn't even feel awkward thinking about them possibly going farther than he and Lindsay ever had. He was completely over her. And completely into a seventeen year old. _Stop thinking about Rory._ he mentally chided himself. _Even if she were over 18, you wouldn't have a shot in hell with her. Damn it, why he couldn't make himself stop thinking about her?_ He glanced at his watch again. Damn Jess for being late and giving him time to think.

"Look at that guy over there. He's hot. And tall. Really tall." Louise said, pointing towards the bar, where Dean was checking his watch again. "I'm going to go dance with him."

"No you're not!" Rory yelped. Louise couldn't dance with Dean, he was _her_ Dean!

"Oh, how are you going to stop me?" she asked with a sultry pout as she stood up. Rory gulped. She could only think of one way.

"_I'm_ going to dance with him." Louise looked at her, shocked, then grinned and sat down, gesturing with her head. There was no way to get out of this. She grabbed Louise's drink, and gulped it down, then Madeline's, and stood up tipsily, almost falling over in the heels she had borrowed from her mother, and started walking over to him.

Dean looked up towards the door again. "Jess, where are you?" he muttered.

"Who's Jess?" a feminine voice asked behind him. He whirled around.

"Rory? What are you doing here?"

"They made me come." she said, gesturing wildly behind her.

"All of them?" he joked, trying to think of some way to get her out of here. She was four years too young to be here.

"Who's Jess?" she asked again, not acknowledging that she had heard him.

"Old friend."

"Wow. That sounded really grown-up. You can't have old friends when you're young, because you're making all your friends, so they're all new."

"Um, yeah, sure. How are you getting home?"

"Was Jess your girlfriend?" she asked suddenly, her eyes widening so that it looked like that would be the worst thing on earth.

"No, he wasn't. I don't really swing that way." she looked confused, then started laughing.

"Dance with me." she pleaded, her eyes opening wider than he thought it was possible for eyes to open.

"I don't really dance. Let's get you out of here." he could explain to Jess.

"Please?" she whispered, tugging on his hand. He sighed.

"Fine. One slow dance, but then you've gotta let me get you home."

"Okay!" She nodded exhuberantly, her face lighting up like a christmas tree, leading him onto the dance floor. He tried to keep from looking at her, tried not to think about how her body felt pressed up against his. "Hey Dean." she whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"What?"

"You won't look me in the eye." she sounded so sad, he had to look at her. He met her eye, and she rose up on her toes and kissed him. He pulled away, but not before he tasted the alcohol on her breath.

"You've been drinking, haven't you?"

"Only a little."

"Rory." he unclasped her hands from behind his neck.

"You said one dance." she whimpered. "If you don't finish it, I won't leave." He sighed again, and let her pull him close. Now he had to figure out how to get her into her house without Lorelai figuring out her angel daughter was drunk, and blaming him for it.

Jess walked into the club and looked around for Dean. He wasn't sitting off by himself anywhere, and it wasn't like him to be late, or dance with anyone that would be at a nightclub.

Dean pulled away from Rory as the music ended, and started leading her towards the exit. She stumbled and fell into him, so he scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way to his dorm. He laid her down on his bed, sound asleep, and grabbed a spare blanket and pillow from the closet for himself. He got an old oversize shirt and boxers from his dresser and changed her into them, forcing himself not to look at her. He eased her under the covers, turned out the lights, and laid down on the floor, covering himself with the blanket, and fell asleep.

Jess paced by the bar, looking for Dean. The guy had never stood anybody up in his life.

"Hey, handsome." a sultry voice purred from behind him.

"Okay..."

"Louise." she offered.

"Okay, Louise, first of all, there's no way you're old enough to be in here. Second, I'm engaged. Goodbye." he shook his head and walked out of the club. He was not going to stand around waiting for Dean all night while some underage slut flirted with him.

Louise stalked back to Madeline. "This sucks. There have been two hot guys here all night who weren't already with some girl. Rory took the first one, and the second one's not only engaged, but faithful."

"Where is Rory, by the way?"

"Off with tall, dark, mysterious stranger, probably. Let's go."

"Wait, don't you think that maybe we should make sure she's alright? Tall, dark, mysterious guy could be a rapist, or serial killer for all we know." Madeline asked, panicing.

"Oh, come on. Let's go." Louise groaned.

"Whatever you say."


	8. run away, little girl

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Rory woke up in a strange bed, in a strange apartment, in strange clothes, which were, granted, a lot more comfortable than the last thing she remembered wearing, to loud insistant knocking and a throbbing headache. She looked around, trying to figure out where she could possibly be. Dean was sleeping on the floor, with only a blanket and a pillow. _He gave up his bed for me, _she thought. "I love you." she whispered, barely more than a breath. She couldn't risk having him hear her. The knocking continued, and Dean didn't wake up. He took care of her, the least she could do was answer his door, and let him sleep for a couple more minutes. She stood up, ignoring the way the world spun, and made her way over to the door.

"Whoa, Dean got lucky last night." an unfamiliar jeering voice laughed. She winced and pressed one hand to her head. "Sorry." he whispered, still laughing at her.

"Who are you?" she moaned.

"Jess Mariano. I'm a friend of Dean's. He was supposed to meet me last night before you pulled him away." he was still laughing.

"He's sleeping."

"I'll come back later, then." how was he still laughing? Or was it just that his voice sounded like laughing? She needed to lie down.

When Rory woke up again, it was to the smell of pancakes. "Dean?" she called.

"Yeah. I made you pancakes. Well, I drove to Luke's, and he made you pancakes, I just brought them back and put them in the microwave, because it's a twenty minute drive."

"Ohhh, hangover food. Wait, you drove forty minutes to get me pancakes?"

"Luke makes the best pancakes." he saw the look on her face. "Plus, I wanted to see him."

"He's the one who's like your dad?"

"Yup. And Jess' uncle."

"Oh, Jess came by earlier. I answered the door, and he laughed at me, and you were sleeping, so I made him go away. Sorry." Dean laughed.

"It's okay. He called me. And he was laughing at me, not you."

"Oh. Why?"

"He thought you were some random girl I picked up at the club. And I've never done that in my life."

"Oh." she tried not to let him see her smiling. Not that she had thought he would do something like that. He saw.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

"Why did you go to that club?"

"Deal with Madeline and Louise. If I went, and let them dress me up, they could never try to drag me to one of those places again, and they had to stop bothering me about this guy who likes me."

"And why did you get drunk?"

"Because Louise was going to dance with you."

"What?"

"She was going to go dance with you. And I didn't want her to."

"I wouldn't have dance with her anyways."

"Do you even know who she is?"

"Exactly. So why did you assume I would? And why did you care?"

"Louise always gets the guys she wants. And then she always hurts them." Rory lied. Well, Louise always did get guys, then hurt them. But that wasn't why she kept her away from Dean.

"Oh."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

"Why did you do so much for me?"

"Because...because I care about you. A lot. I know I shouldn't, but I do."

"Why shouldn't you?" she asked, letting down her guard a bit, letting him see she cared about him too. He just looked at her. She put down the plate and ran out of the dorm.

"Rory!" he yelled. She just ran.


	9. thank you

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Rory pushed through the door.

"Lorelai Leigh Hayden!" Lorelai yelled. "Where the hell have you been all night? And why are you wearing some guy's old stuff?"

"Mom..."

"What happened?"

"Madeline and Louise dragged me to some nightclub."

"What the hell happened, Rory?"

"Louise was going to go put the moves on Dean, and I told her not to, drank a little bit, and I..."

"Dean! Did Dean do something to you?"

"No, Mom! I was wasted, and I came over to him, and was coming on pretty hard, so..."

"So he took you home and raped you?"

"He changed me out of the things Madeline and Louise picked out for me, because he could tell I was uncomfortable. He gave me his bed and slept on the floor. He drove forty minutes to get me the best pancakes because he knew I'd be hungover."

"Go to your room."

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Lorelai walked up to the door and knocked. It swung open to reveal Dean.

"Lorelai, I know you probably hate me right now, but I was only trying to help her." she nodded.

"I know you were." she hugged him. "Thank you. I'll probably be seeing you around."

"Yeah. Bye, Lorelai."

"Bye. Oh, and Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful with her. She really likes you, I can tell, don't break her heart."

"I don't plan to."

"She doesn't really have any experience with guys. It's insane, I mean she'll be eighteen in a month, and she's my daughter. But she doesn't."

"I'll be careful with her. I promise."

"I can see why she likes you. You're probably the best first boyfriend a girl could have. Not that you have to date her."

"Thanks, Lorelai, but I think you're wrong about her being into me. I told her I cared about her and she completely flipped. Ran out of the dorm."

"Oh. See you around, Dean." she got in the car. If Dean wasn't smart enough to figure out that she was just being shy, he didn't deserve her.


	10. kiss

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

Rory curled up on her bed, immersed in her book. She could hide here in her room until Dean was gone. It would be easier than facing him after running away the morning before.

"Rory?" or maybe not. "Topher told me where your room is."

"Oh."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I know you're not interested, and I get that. I mean, I am about four years older than you, so I get it, and I'm going to stop bothering you."

"I am."

"What?"

"I am interested."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And it's probably more like three and a half years. I turn eighteen in a month." he laughed. She walked over to him, and slowly turned her head up to look him in the eye, placing one hand gently on his cheek. He bent down as she rose up on her toes. Their lips were only inches away when Chris called out from behind them.

"Rory, how about you come down? I'll make you some coffee." they both whirled around to look at him.

"Chris, come on, Topher makes the coffee." Lorelai called from behind. "Let's go talk about...how much it'll cost to send Rory to Harvard, like she wants."

"We've looked at those numbers about ten times."

"Yes, but not how much it'll cost to send Topher to a fancy school at the same time. Let's go." she growled, dragging him away. She turned over her shoulder, giving Rory a look that said quite clearly "kiss him." Rory looked quizically at her mother, then kissed Dean on the cheek. "No, Rory, I meant on the _mouth_!" she yelled back at her, forgetting that she was trying to be subtle about hooking the two of them up.

"What!" Chris screeched, spinning around.

"Rory had a...a...thing on her mouth."

"Yeah, nice try, Lor. I thought you didn't want them together. You wanted to fire Dean to keep them apart, if I remember correctly."

"_Come on_, Christopher!" she snapped as she dragged him off.

"Your mom wanted to fire me to keep me away from you?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I talked her out of it, though."

"When was this?"

"Awhile ago. She could tell I really liked you, and she thought you were too old for me."

"Oh. If she could tell, why couldn't I?"

"You haven't known me for seventeen years."

"True."

"And for those seventeen years, we've been really close. The two Lorelai Haydens. Dad and Topher were really close too, they're the two Christopher Haydens."

"Your parents named you and your brother after themselves?"

"Yup. And since I was her name buddy, and the person who knew her best, she usually knows exactly what I want. And sometimes, she can tell I want something, but I'm too shy to do anything about it, so she tells me to do it."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really."

"And are you two feeling close today?"

"Extremely close. Possibly closer than ever."

"Good." he whispered, sliding one hand to the small of her back as he bent down to kiss her.


	11. the Lorelais in Stars Hollow

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I just realized, Emily and Richard Gilmore have yet to make an appearance. This chapter is devoted to bits of Narco fluff and Luke and Lor's first meeting, so I'll work them into the next chapter. I'm really sorry if this gets confusing. There's a lot of dialogue.

Rory felt like she was flying. She wondered if all kisses did this to a person, or just Dean's. She was willing to put a lot of money on the latter. After what felt like seconds, and hours at the same time, she fell back onto her heels as he straightened up.

"That was nice." she whispered, breathless.

"Yeah." he smiled, and wrapped his arms around her.

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"You really miss him, don't you." Lorelai said, snapping Rory out of her dreamy daze.

"I shouldn't. He's only been gone since Thursday night, and he comes back on Monday. That's only two days away."

"One day without him and you're in withdrawal. You should tell him."

"Haha."

"We could go visit him, wherever he is."

"In Stars Hollow? It's only twenty minutes away, and he did say Luke's place has the best coffee in the world..."

"Excellent. We'll just say we wanted coffee. Really, really good coffee."

"Are you insane? He'll know."

"That we wanted really, really good coffee? Of course he will, we're the Lorelais."

"That I was pining for him. And if he wasn't missing me, I'll feel stupid."

"Oh, Rory, darling, love of my life. You told me about Luke's where the happy coffee is, you cannot cut me off from it. I want it. Oh, I wonder if he does Danish Day?"

"Mom! We can't go. I'll feel stupid."

"Then I'm going without you."

"You can't go without me! Then he'll know that I'm not only pining after him, I don't trust him enough to tell him that I'm pining after him, or that I don't care about him enough to drive twenty minutes to see him. He drove twenty minutes to get me something he could have gotten two minutes away if he didn't care so much about the quality."

"Well, I care just as much about the quality as Dean, so I'm driving twenty minutes to get the coffee. You know, he's probably missing you just as much as you're missing him. New girlfriend and all that. And anyways, he'll believe you if you say you offhandedly told me that Dean's staying at a place with the best coffee on earth, and I just _had_ to go get a cup, and of course you came along. You like good coffee almost as much as I do, plus, your boyfriend was going to be there, so why would you stay home?" Rory's eyes lit up.

"Should we tell Dad and Topher?"

"Let them freak out."

"I don't know..." Lorelai took out her keys and swung them in front of Rory's face.

"You know you want to, all the cool kids are doing it."

"Let's go."

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"So, Dean, what's new in your life?" Luke asked. They were sitting at the table in Luke's apartment above his diner wiht Jess and Lindsay.

"He's got a new girlfriend. She's twelve." Jess said with his mouth full.

"Seventeen." Dean corrected. "She turns eighteen in about three weeks."

"Same thing. They're sleeping together." Jess continued.

"No we're not."

"She answered his door at six in the morning in his clothes right after she woke up." Dean glared at him. "Sorry."

"So, what's this new girlfriend like?" Luke asked.

"She's really nice. Really pretty, really smart. She's probably going to Harvard next year. She has a coffee dependency. She's kind of shy, but she can be really talkative. In a good way."

"Oh, man." Jess groaned.

"What?" Dean asked.

"You miss her already, don't you? You two have been apart for what, twenty-five hours, and you already miss her."

"You're really one to talk."

"Me?"

"I seem to recall a certain incident almost two years and a half years ago where-"

"You're misrecalling."

"Misrecalling is not a word. So anyways, as I was saying-"

"Hey, does anyone else want a beer? Because I'm getting really-" Lindsay covered his mouth with her hand.

"Go on, Dean," she said, a wicked gleam in her eye, "I want to hear this."

"Of course. So two an a half years ago, I went with Jess to visit his father in California. So, we're driving out west, because neither of us could afford a plane ticket, and it's probably been about a day or so, this is a four or five day car ride, by the way, when Jess says really suddenly, 'what do you think she's doing right now?' so I ask him what he's talking about, naturally, and he goes on for about five hours about Lindsay, and how much he misses her. For the rest of the trip he sings along with every sappy country song on the radio, every little thing we see that is _remotely_ pretty reminds him of her. He saw this tortoise, with a kind of pretty shell, and-"

"No, no, no, you are _not_ telling that part!"

"He says, 'oh, that shell is so pretty, just like Lindsay. I miss her. Hey Dean? Do you think she's missing me right now?'" Luke and Lindsay burst into laughter. "Four days of this. In a car. With no escape route."

"Oh, Dean, you need to come back more often." Lindsay laughed.

"No, he can't, he'd miss his girlfriend too much, then we'd be stuck with 'oh, that pillow is so pretty, just like Rory. I miss her. Hey Jess? Luke? Lindsay? Do you think she misses me?'" Jess said waspishly.

"Well, as much as I hate to leave just when things are getting interesting, Ceasar needs to take his dinner break, so I need to get back to work." Luke said.

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Rory followed Lorelai into the diner just as a man in a flannel shirt and backwards baseball cap walked past the door with a pot of coffee. He collided with Lorelai, splashing the coffee all over her.

"Oh, I am so sorry." he said, looking at her shirt.

"No, it's okay. I practically live on the stuff, it's very fitting that I be clothed in it as well."

"Well, good. I have a bathroom around there, if you want to clean up."

"Okay, thanks."

"I heard a scream." Jess said as he walked down the stairs and into the diner.

"Jess?" Rory asked.

"Dean! Your girlfriend's here! You can stop comparing the pillows to her now!" he yelled up the stairs.

"That was definitely you!" Dean yelled back as he ran down the stairs. "Rory! You really are here!"

"Yeah. I am. What was that about the pillows?"

"Oh, well, Jess here once missed his girlfriend so much, he thought a turtle with a pretty shell looked like her."

"And you told everyone, so he had to get back at you."

"Yes. But he made up the pillow thing."

"Good. I don't think it's very flattering to be compared to a pillow, but on the other hand, if a pillow reminded you of me, then everything must have reminded you of me." he laughed.

"Come here!" she ran to him, and he twirled her up in the air, kissing her.

"Hmm, I like having a tall boyfriend who can spin me around."

"Well, that works, because I like having a girlfriend who is small enough to be spun around."

"And you teased me for being a sap." Jess pitched in.

"You're a closet sap. I'm an open sap." Dean rebutted.

"Yeah, Jess, you are a sap." Lindsay laughed.

"Okay, come here." Jess said, opening his arms.

"I'm taller than you are. You won't be able to spin me like that."

"Oh, great, I love having my nose rubbed in that."

"I'm guessing you're Lindsay, Jess' fiancee." Rory asked.

"Yup. You must be Rory." she replied.

"Yeah. Good to meet you."

"You too."

"And the man in the flannel who thought my mom would look good in brown would be Luke." Rory announced.

"Yup, I've heard a lot about you, Rory." Luke said. "I'd hug you, but I'm not too big on hugs."

"That's fine."

"Rory, how would you like a tour of the town?" Dean asked.

"I would love one."

"We can come too." Lindsay offered. "Not for all of it, just a little bit."

"Sounds good."

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Lorelai asked as she bounced eagerly into the room.

"Mom, this is Dean, as you know." Rory started the introductions.

"Yes, I do."

"And Jess, Jess' fiancee Lindsay, and Luke."

"Luke himself, maker of the good coffee?"

"Yes, that Luke."

"So, what do you say? Table in the corner so no one can come up behind us and whack us over the head with a cannolli?"

"Actually, Dean was going to give me a tour of the town."

"Is this an actual tour, or a 'let's go make out and call it a tour' tour?"

"You can't come."

"Okay. Bye." Rory, Dean, Jess, and Lindsay left the diner. "Hey wait! Why can they go? That's not fair!"

"So, Luke, do you have any danishes?"

"Yes."

"Any coffee that's not on me?"

"Yes."

"Can I have some?"

"Maybe, if you tell me what's with the cannolli thing."

"Because he left the gun and took the cannolli. Coffee and danish, please."

"You drove all the way out here for coffee and a danish that you didn't even know if I had?"

"Yes. Give it over."

"Twenty minutes for a potential coffee and danish?"

"Yes. Give me the damn food!"

"Coffee's not food."

"Please. I live off coffee. My life is coffee, good, Rory, good, Emily, bad."

"The only things you need in your life is coffee, Rory and a lack of Emilies, which I'm not even going to ask about. That cannolli thing was lame."

"Actually, now that I think about it, I need hamburgers, poptarts, any type of deep-fried potatoes, pizza..."

"I get the feeling you could go on for hours."

"I could. And the Emily thing wasn't a Godfather reference."

"The cannolli bit was from the Godfather? No wonder it was so lame."

"Yes, well, Emily Post Gilmore is my mother."

"Your mother's Emily Post?"

"No, my mother is Emily Gilmore. She just thinks she's Emily Post. She yelled at me for returning hoity-toity crystal candlesticks, and exchanging them for a crazy hat. Then she looked at my husband and smiled at him, and went on about how he was a lovely young man, with a fine upbringing, whose mother was a dear friend of hers, and how he should help me learn my manners. Then she turned on my poor kids, who were only ten and eight, by the way, and enrolled them in manner lessons."

"Emily Post would have taught them herself."

"Yeah, well, my mother's a failure at everything she does. Such as raising me, impersonating a dead woman."

"She pretended to be a ghost? That sounds like a good story."

"I meant Emily Post. Who died about forty something years ago."

"Oh, right I knew that."

"You totally did not know that."

"How much do you wanna bet?"

"That doesn't work, because you can just pretend you knew, even if you really didn't know."

"Coffee?"

"Yes. And a danish, please."


	12. 18

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, with Lor/Luke later on

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I know that following the timeline of the show, Straub would be dead (he died Dec. 05, and right now my story is in Nov. 06), and I am trying to semi-follow that timeline, but I'm going to need him to be alive later, so he's still alive.

AN #2: Sorry, I know this kind of sucks, and everyone is a little bit OOC.

------------------------------------

Emily Gilmore checked the guest list again. It was her precious granddaughter's eighteenth birthday, and she wasn't going to let anything ruin it. Or anyone, namely Francine Hayden, take the honor of throwing this party. It would be one of the biggest social events of the season, the granddaughter of Richard and Emily Gilmore and Straub and Francine Hayden turning eighteen, and Emily would get kudos for organizing it if it went smoothly. As it would. Since when had Rory done anything that could be frowned upon?

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Rory rolled over so she was lying on top of Dean, kissing him fiercely. Suddenly, he pulled away.

"Dean, what's wrong?" she asked.

"How far was that going to go?"

"I don't know. Maybe nowhere. Maybe all the way."

"But wherever it was going, it was going there fast."

"I guess so."

"Don't you think...maybe we should slow it down?"

"If you want to."

"It's just that I don't want to rush anything. There will be plenty of time for whatever we want to do when we're both completely ready."

"I'm ready."

"You can't know for sure. And anyways, I'm not."

"You're not what?"

"Ready to go any farther. Because, please don't get mad at me, but you're still underage."

"I turn eighteen this weekend."

"I know that. But I've already gone farther with you than I've ever gone before."

"You never had a girlfriend?"

"I did."

"Who?"

"I dated a girl named Beth when I lived in Chicago. Then I dated Lindsay for a year in high school. But it was never this intense, and it never got this far."

"Lindsay Jess' Lindsay?"

"Yes. We dated for about five months in our senior year, then we broke up because neither of us felt anything. Which is the point. I've never felt anything for anybody like what I feel for you, which is how I know that what we have is something really special, and I want to go really slow."

"Oh. I get it. I've never felt anything for anybody before, so going slow would probably be a good idea."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Yes you are."

"Where?"

"My grandparents party for me."

"With a bunch of rich schmucks? I don't think so."

"Please?"

"Are they nice?"

"They can be. Please, please, please, Dean."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Why not." she grinned and leaned over and kissed him, then laid her head on his chest.

"Is this good?"

"It's perfect."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Lor, are you going to throw Rory a little party on top of Emily Gilmore's gala event?" Chris asked, taking off his shoes and getting ready for bed.

"I don't know. Maybe." Lorelai examined the empty lip gloss tube she was holding.

"Only maybe? Lor, this is her biggest year. You always do."

"Well, maybe I will again this year, then."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Why won't you look at me?"

"Because I'm looking at this." she waved the lip gloss tube above her head.

"That is empty. And I don't just mean now." he walked over to her and turned her chin so she was facing him.

"I don't know."

"Are we fighting?"

"No. Not really."

"Then what is it?"

"Something feels off."

"Lor..."

"No, I don't know what's wrong, it's just something that's not...there. You can't say you haven't felt it."

"All I've felt not being there is you. For the past two weeks, almost since Rory and Dean have been dating. Is that it? Are you upset about that?"

"Am _I _upset about Rory and Dean? I think it's great. Yeah, I had the 'baby daughter's growing up' freak-out at first, but now I think it's great."

"Are you mad at me, then?"

"No. Something's just off."

"Lorelai, this isn't helping anything! You need to tell me what's off or I can't help you fix it." he yelled.

"Well, maybe it's not something that can be fixed, Christopher! Maybe it's something that broke because we're breaking." she yelled back.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Chris. Did you ever think we'd last this long? Twenty-three years! We're not even forty yet. We've been with each other over half of our lives."

"So? We just work well together."

"No we don't. You know that, and I know that. We're just stubborn. Sometimes it works in our favor, sometimes it works against us."

"What do you mean, we don't work well together? We've been together twenty-three years. That's the proof."

"What's the longest we've gone without a big fight? A month? Two? How about a fight so big that it makes Rory and Topher think we're going to get a divorce? We have one of those every year."

"We can make it, Lor."

"I'm not sure that we can." she didn't need to add that she wasn't sure that she wanted to anymore. He could see it in her eyes.

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Emily looked around for something to do, an excuse to leave. Her party was a disaster. Lorelai wasn't talking to Christopher. Rory brought her boyfriend, some poor guy from UConn. Rory's best friend, Louise was mad at her, and her other best friend, Madeline did whatever Louise did, and she wasn't talking to Janlin DuGrey's grandson, whatever his name was. Not that she usually did. Rory, Lorelai, and, as Emily would think of him _that guy_, had stood around talking to each other all evening. The worst part was, there wasn't anything she could do. She could only stand there and watch Lorelai laughing with Rory and Don. Or was it Dan? Or Dave? Something that started with a 'D,' anyhow, and poor Christopher standing in a corner, watching. Topher standing terrified as Madeline and Louise flirted with him. Francine gloating to Straub. Not one thing she could do to save the party. Or Topher. Or Lorelai and Chris' marriage. But maybe there was something she could do about Rory. She slipped into Richard's study and dialed an old friend's number.

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Rory, Dean, Topher and Lorelai walked out of the party together. Lorelai had finally seen what was happening to him, and after laughing hysterically for a while, she told Rory and Dean that Madeline and Louise were torturing him, and Rory had gone to rescue her brother.

"Hey, let's go get coffee!" Lorelai said, grabbing Rory and Topher's wrists and dragging them down the street to her car. "Dean, why aren't you coming?"

"I need to go see Luke, and my car's that way." he replied, pointing in the other direction.

"That's fine, we can all go to Luke's." she said, much more excited than she should've been as she released Rory's wrist and dragged Topher with her.

"I think she wants me to go with you." Rory said, looking up at her boyfriend.

"Then let's go."

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"Mom?" Topher asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Are you having an affair with Luke?"

"What!"

"Well, you and Dad aren't talking, and you obviously want to see Luke."

"I want to see Luke's coffee. And I want to see how long Rory and Dean can say 'no, you're prettier.'"

"Oh, Mom, no one wants to see that."

"So what do you think of your mom with Luke?" Dean asked.

"My mom's married."

"I know, but she likes Luke."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because she jumped about five feet in the air and squealed when I said his name."

"She did not squeal." he looked at her. "Okay, fine, she squealed. But she's still married to my dad."

"I know. I was just thinking ahead."

"My parents will make up."

"It seems like a pretty bad fight."

"It is. But they have one this bad almost every year. Once they didn't talk for a month. They've still got another week before we worry."

"But Rory? If they do split up? And Lorelai does want to date Luke? How would you feel about that?"

"A little weird, honestly, but if she really wanted to, that would be okay."

"Good. Do you think she'd tell you if she had a thing for Luke?"

"Maybe. Why are you so interested in this?"

"Almost a year ago, Jess and I found out that Luke has a daughter. And her mother came back."


	13. surprises

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I know I was going to make it a Java Junkie, but I'm feeling very anti-Luke right now. He should have told Lorelai what was going on with April and Anna, she told him everything that was going on with her and Chris. I also Lorelai with Chris, even if I know that Luke and Lorelai are meant to be, but maybe in this alternate universe, Chris is her soulmate, not Luke.

AN #2: I was going to wait to see where they were going to take the storyline with April before I updated, but there are no new episodes until January, so I'm just going to have to make up the storyline.

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Topher reluctantly followed his mother into the packed diner.

"Luke, I want coffee!" she yelled as soon as she got in.

"I'm busy. Go sit down, and I'll get to you soon."

"But Luuuuuuuuke." she whined.

"Go. Sit down. Wait your turn." Topher sat at one of the stools and watched his mother follow the diner owner around, begging for coffee. She stopped tailing him only once to go grab a newspaper, search for something in it, rip off a piece, and scribble something on it. He looked at the piece of newspaper and sighed. Lorelai ran over and sat down next to him, and Luke walked over, rolling his eyes, and poured her a cup of coffee.

"Another one, please."

"You can't possibly drink two cups of coffee at once."

"Not for me. For my son."

"Your invisible son?"

"Mom, it's fine. I don't want any coffee." Topher said exhaustedly.

"Oh, you're Rory's brother?" Luke asked, smiling gruffly at him. "Dean's mentioned you."

"Luke, we need two more cups." Lorelai said, tugging at his shirt, trying to turn his attention back to her. "For Rory and Dean."

"One more." Luke corrected. "Dean only drinks coffee in the morning."

"_Luke has a daughter. And her mother came back."_

Rory gaped open-mouthed at her boyfriend. How had he figured out that Lorelai might be into Luke in the first place? Weren't guys supposed to be completely clueless? "Why should that matter, though?" Rory asked. "My mom has Toph and me."

"Luke can be very...odd about April, though."

"How so?" Dean pulled over so that he could look her straight in the eye.

"He didn't know about her until she was eleven, so she's his top priority. Which, for Luke, basically means she controls his life. He was dating this woman, Rachel, when April found him, and he really loved her. April just wanted him for a science project, but Luke wanted to be the model father. He'd skip big things with Rachel for little things that April didn't even want him at. About six months ago, Luke had this big romantic night planned for Rachel, and he was going to propose to her, but April called, and actually asked him to come over. For no reason."

"He abandoned Rachel on the night he was supposed to _propose_ to her to spend an hour with his daughter?"

"I tried to comfort her. Told her he wanted to propose to her."

"You told her that he was going to propose, but decided a night of scrabble with his estranged daughter was more important."

"Stupid, I know, but it seemed smart at the time."

"What happened?"

"She left. Said goodbye to me, asked me to tell Luke and Jess, packed her bags and left. She would have been able to take being second to April, just not that abandoned. Then when Luke got back, he was just mad at her for leaving, that she wanted more from life than Stars Hollow, and if she wanted to blame it on April, that was fine, but it was just an excuse. Lorelai seems really nice. And Luke's a great guy. But..."

"My mom won't believe that."

"I know. It just seemed like something you should know."

"Thanks." She leaned over as far as the seatbelt would let her, and kissed him softly. "I love you." The words slipped out. She could feel herself turning red. Rory Gilmore didn't do impetuous things like that, she thought them out. "I...I mean..." she stammered uselessly, trying to think of something to say. He reached out and cupped her face with his hands, bringing it closer, and kissed her.

"It's okay," he whispered, "I love you, too." His mouth was so close to hers that she could practically feel them moving. She kissed him again, any thoughts of Luke, or her parents completely dissolved.


	14. Lorelai and the seedy motel discussion

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: Stupid little nitpick: I said Straub Haden died in Dec. '05, but it was Dec. '04. Also, I've been spelling Haden wrong this whole time. My friend spells it "Hayden" but I read the little booklet, and it said "Christopher Haden" so I'm going to go with that from now on. Don't be confused.

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Lorelai looked at her watch again. "Where are they?" She asked for the umpteenth time. "They only left five minutes after us, at most."

"Dean's a careful driver." Luke said, not looking up.

"Okay, so they should have gotten here fifteen minutes after us, tops."

"Unless they decided to stop at some seedy motel to celebrate Rory's eighteenth birthday." Topher offered. Lorelai and Luke both glared at him.

"Where did you learn to think like that?" Lorelai asked.

"Fourteen years of living with you and Dad. I'm surprised you haven't already thought of that."

"I didn't think of that, because I do not want to think about my daughter getting it on in a seedy motel room. Or anywhere for that matter."

"Well, you should at least consider the possibility."

"Stop it! I'm getting mental images! Stop!" She cried, dramatically covering her ears and closing her eyes.

"Something wrong, Mom?" Rory called as a tinkling of bells announced their arrival.

"Rory! You're here!" She jumped up and ran to hug her daughter.

"Dean, your shirt's on inside out." Luke called.


	15. what to do

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"_Dean, your shirt's on inside out!" Luke called_

Lorelai jumped back, pushing herself away from Rory and stared at her face, searching for a something that would prove that she still had her virginity. All she saw was a bewildered expression that matched Dean's as they looked at his right-side out shirt.

"Sorry," Luke laughed.

"No you're not! And that wasn't funny!" Lorelai yelled, stalking back towards him.

"Yes, it was," Topher laughed, "and you can't pretend you were surprised that he said something like that."

"No, it was not funny." She growled, stalking over to a laughing Luke. "Okay, maybe a little funny," she relented.

Rory wanted to ask what was so funny about that. She wanted to draw her mother's attention away from Luke. She wanted to save her. But she couldn't. But she loved her father too much to just stand there and watch her mother fall into another man's arms, either. "Dean and I just stopped by to make sure you weren't worrying," she said, "we were going to go, um..."

"What?" Lorelai cried in alarm, spinning around. Rory hadn't expected her mother to react so violently to the suggestion.

"Go for a drive?" She asked Dean, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Yeah. Right. Go for a drive," he agreed.

"So, we'll see you later," she said as she dragged him out the door.

They only drove for a couple minutes before Dean pulled over. "Are you okay?" he whispered. She shook her head, trying to wipe away her tears, but her hands were shaking too much. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have told you that."

"No. It's not that. It's just..."

"What?" He asked softly, wiping her tears for her.

"It really is over for my parents, isn't it. Everyone thought that they were the sweet couple. The young love that would last forever. They were my proof that we could make it."

"Us? What do you mean?"

"My parents never dated anyone except for each other. They were my proof that you could find the right person the first time around. That you didn't need to keep searching, and searching."

"Rory..."

"Does that mean that we should break up right now, so I can go get the necessary experiences to come back, and then we can come back, and be together for the rest of our lives?"

"You're really planning ahead."

"Should we?" Dean just looked at her. "Oh, right, too much, too soon. I didn't mean it, I just-"

"No, Rory, it's alright."

"It is?"

"I'm not upset, or wigged out that you're thinking about this. It's actually kind of sweet."

"Really?"

"Very sweet. But that's not the whole problem. Is it?" her eyes filled with tears again.

"We were happy. My dad's probably sitting at home, waiting for her to come in, to try to make it up to her. He loves her so much. He'd do anything to make it work for them. And she's throwing it away over something that's not even going to work out," she sobbed into his shoulder.


	16. Topher's hidden strength, pt 1

1One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Chris banged his head against the wall. He was such an idiot. How could he not have felt Lorelai slipping away? Now he knew that she was. He wanted to snap his fingers and make everything better again. He wanted her to be laughing at his side again. He wanted to be speeding along in the expensive cars his parents bought him with her, laughing when they almost crashed. Cringing when they did. Looking for UFOs and naked people on the balcony of her old room. He knew they couldn't do that anymore. They had a daughter who was leaving for college in ten months. Rory. If he completely lost Lorelai, would he lose Rory too? They were so close. It wasn't that he didn't love Topher. He did. He loved both his children equally. And both of them more than his limbs. He'd rather be in a wheelchair, no arms, no legs, and in constant pain than lose even one of his children. He was scared of them growing up, and growing away from him, the way he and Lor had grown away from their parents. What could he do?

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Lorelai laughed hysterically at whatever Luke was saying. She wasn't quite sure what it was. They'd moved on from coffee to beer an hour before. She didn't see the heartbroken look on her son's face. Luke was too focused on Lorelai to notice Topher pull a cell phone out of his pocket. He turned away as Lorelai walked behind the counter, and ran out of the diner, and dialed.

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Rory and Dean were sitting in the back seat of his truck, so that he could hold her, comfort her. Her whole life was falling apart, except for him. What would happen if she lost him, too? She couldn't trust her mother, but she couldn't side with her father against her, either. Her best friends, Madeline and Louise were no help. Topher would just help Chris, whatever it took. Dean was her rock, her safety net. The one person she could love enough, trust enough to make it through.

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"Pick up, damn it, Rory!" Topher hissed at his phone. Why wasn't she answering? Didn't she care that their very drunk mother was standing about three feet away from a very drunk man she was obviously interested in? Or was it going to be like every other Haden conflict, where Topher and Chris were on one side, and Rory and Lorelai were on the other? Regardless of the conflict, that was how the tables always turned. Even if Lorelai was clearly in the wrong, why should this time be any different? It was time for him to take matters into his own hands. He marched back into the diner with a fury he didn't know he possessed. "Mom!" he yelled. Lorelai jumped back from Luke in shock.

"Topher?"

"We're going. Give me your keys."

"Excuse me?"

"You're drunk. Your _husband_ is waiting for you at home," he said, stressing the word 'husband,' "and we need to get home."

"Honey, you're fifteen."

"I know how to drive. And I'm driving you home. Now. Throw me the keys."

Lorelai obeyed meekly.

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Rory didn't stop crying until midnight. After they had managed to get back into the front seat, Rory had announced that she was hungry, so they bought burgers and fries at Wendy's. She was laughing again, trying to make him agree to catch a fry in his mouth. He smiled at her happiness. All he wanted was for her to be happy like this, laugh like this all the time. They were still talking and laughing when he dropped her off, kissing her lightly. "See you tomorrow," he whispered.

"Yeah. Tomorrow," she breathed, slipping out of the car, and watched as he drove away. Once he was gone, she slipped inside the house, and flipped on the light. Five bags were waiting, neatly stacked, at the bottom of the stairs.


	17. Topher's hidden strength, pt 2

1One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: My heart's breaking for Christopher just thinking about what I'm going to write. But that doesn't mean I've decided if I'm going to make it a Java Junkie ending or a Balcony Buddy ending. I wasn't even going to have all the L/C/L drama I'm writing now. When I first thought of it, it was just a little AU R/D piece. I had this one scene (which is coming) that I wanted to get to, and once I got going, I got flooded with ideas for this triangle, and how to relate it to theR/D storyline.

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Chris and Topher looked sadly at the bags that they had packed and put at the foot of the stairs. They didn't want to do this. It just didn't seem fair. "We should at least tell Rory." Christopher said, his struggle to keep from crying evident in his voice.

"No. I tried calling her so many times last night."

"My cell phone was turned off," they heard from behind them. Rory was standing there, clutching a mug of coffee so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from crying so much the night before, and her voice was hoarse. "So, you're leaving?" she wiped at the tears before they could fall, as if determined not to let another drop of water leave her body.

"No, sweetheart. Your mom is." Chris said.

"You're kicking her out?" she stopped trying to control her tears.

"Last night, when she got home, I begged her to try and work things out between us. She told me that she didn't want to, that she'd rather leave. Your brother heard, he said she had to go." Rory let out a strangled cry, and turned on her brother.

"Why?" she sobbed. Topher looked away from his distraught sister. He couldn't break his father's heart any farther by saying how close Lorelai had been to kissing the diner man. It was better to have Rory mad at him. "Dad, please," she begged.

"We'll give her the choice," he whispered, the pain in his voice practically tangible, "and if she wants to stay, she can."

"But, Dad!" Topher called, desperately. His father couldn't start trusting his mother again, not if the previous night was any indication.

"I'm sorry, Toph, we can't just kick her out. We all love her too much. If she wants to stay, she can stay." Any love Topher felt for his mother was overwhelmed by the hate he felt at her for betraying his father like that, but he let Chris pull him into his arms anyways. Topher and Rory leaned into their father, searching for the strength, love, and familiarity that had been there for their whole lives. The three of them, Chris, Topher and Rory stood like that for hours, Chris' arms encircling his children, their heads resting against his chest, none of them wanting to be the first to break away.

They were waiting for her when she walked down the stairs. Topher looked cold, and angry. Christopher looked heartbroken, and Rory looked torn into pieces. "What is this?"she asked, her breath catching.

"Are you happy, Lor?" Chris asked, trying not to let his pain show.

"What?"

"Do you want to leave?" he asked his heart shattering once again as she didn't immediately deny it.

"It doesn't matter, Dad. She's leaving." Topher snapped. He looked his mother straight in the eye, and she knew. He hadn't told Chris about Luke yet, but if she didn't get out right then and stop hurting him, he would. He was trying to save his father any bit of heartbreak that he could. She looked at Rory, begging for support. For the first time in her life, Rory refused to make eye contact with her mother, looking at the floor, fiddling with her cell phone, and anything else that would keep her from looking into her mother's eyes.

"I'll...I'll go," she finally croaked. Chris nodded, looking away, and they all stepped aside. She walked down, picked up the bags, and carried them out to her car, as she left, she heard Rory finally break down, sobbing into Chris' shoulder, as Chris finally let himself cry the tears that had been threatening to pour out for the past month.

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Lorelai threw herself into the car, sobbing hysterically. She had been bored. She had had her doubts about her relationship with Chris, been afraid that they would always be trapped in this relationship, been afraid that the love had left it. All she had wanted was to want again. She wanted, all right. She wanted her son back. She wanted her husband. She wanted Luke. But none of that compared to how much she wanted her daughter. Rory had always been there for her, throughout the thick and the thin, but now she wasn't. Lorelai had always thought that, when push came to shove, Rory would choose her over Chris. But she hadn't. She'd lost her faith in her mother, just like Topher had, and it was only eighteen years of their incredible bond that had kept her from meeting her eyes with the same burning anger that Topher had met her eyes with. Yesterday, she'd had everything. Today, she had nothing.


	18. Rory's collapse

1One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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It had been a week since she had talked to her mother, or Dean, and it showed in her schoolwork. Her English teacher, Mr. Medina had even pulled her aside to ask her what was wrong, not like that was too surprising. She always got As, and she hadn't gotten anything higher than a C in the past week. If she kept this up, she wouldn't be able to go to Harvard, and Mr. Medina always knew when something was wrong. She needed to talk to Dean.

"Hey, Mary. What's wrong?" Tristin asked, sauntering up to her. She sobbed into her hands. He reached out to hold her, but she pulled back.

"Dean. I need Dean," she sobbed. Tristin didn't know who Dean was, but he was willing to bet that his number was in her phone. And that she wouldn't calm down until she'd talked to him.

"Give me your phone." She handed it over, numb. He searched her numbers. He was right. It was there. He looked over at Rory. She was whimpering now. As much as he wanted to be the guy she was calling out for, he had to get her to the guy she needed. He called the number.

"Rory?" A deep voice answered.

"Ooh, caller I.D. Fancy." Tristin teased.

"Okay, who the hell is this, and what are you doing with Rory's phone?"

"She gave it to me." Tristin cackled, enjoying the rise he was getting out of the guy.

"What? And who is this?" Tristin tried to come up with a snappy remark, but he saw Rory. She was leaning against the wall, shivering, looking flushed and grayish at the same time.

"Tristin. I go to school with her. She needs you here. At Chilton. Now," his teasing manner evaporated.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I have no idea, but it looks bad. She'd probably be on the phone right now if she could dial."

"I'll be right there." Dean promised, closing his phone. Tristin turned his attention back to Rory. Her knees were giving out, and she was sinking to the floor. He carried her to the nurse's office, and ran out front to wait for Dean.

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Dean pulled up in the Chilton parking lot and jumped out of his truck.

"Are you Dean?" a blond boy asked behind him.

"Yeah."

"Tristin. She's in the nurse's office." Dean didn't even take the time to thank him, he just set off running down the hall. "Dude!" Tristin called, "Other way. At the end of the hall."

"Thanks." Dean called as he took off in the other direction. Tristin watched him run. Too bad Rory was in serious trouble. It would have been fun to mess with his mind. Although he got the feeling that Dean could have beaten him to a bloody pulp if the mood struck him. The guy was a giant. So maybe he wouldn't be screwing with his mind anytime soon.

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Dean rushed into the office. "Is Rory Haden here?" he asked, barely out of breath from his sprint down the hall.

"Are you related to her?"

"No. I'm her boyfriend."

"Do you have any proof?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid we can't let you see her. Ah, Topher. Here to see your sister?" Dean turned around.

"Topher," he said. "They're not letting me in."

"Well, I can't really blame them," Topher replied coldly. Dean was shocked. Topher had always been so nice to him. "It is your fault that she's sick."

"What? How?" Dean called, heartbroken. How had he hurt Rory? He'd figured she'd need time with her father and brother after Lorelai left. "Should I have called? I thought she'd want to be with you and your dad after Lorelai left."

"How did you know that Lorelai left in the first place?" Topher spat accusingly.

"She went to Luke's. He called me," Dean said, the adrenaline rush he had felt when he heard that Rory needed him disappearing.

"Yes. Exactly. She went to _your_ uncle's diner, or house, or whatever you want to call it. She left our father for him! And she never would have met him if it weren't for you. And Rory wouldn't be a mess if Mom hadn't left Dad for her boyfriend's uncle."

"He's not my uncle." Dean said, at a loss for anything better to say.

"No. But he's pretty damn close. As close as you can get without actually being a blood relative. And I am her blood relative, and I don't want you in there with her." He walked off, not noticing that how similar the look Dean was giving him was to the look Chris had given Lorelai when she walked out of their lives.


	19. Chris and Dean

1One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"Dean?" Christopher asked, "What are you doing here? I didn't think Chilton usually informed their students' boyfriends when they were sick."

"Oh, no, the school didn't. They won't let me go see her. Apparently she was talking to some guy, Tristin something-or-other, I don't think I even asked. Then she fell apart, asked for me, he called me, and here I am."

"Ah, Tristin DuGrey."

"Maybe."

"Well," Chris said, sitting down next to Dean, "if it was DuGrey, it's very unlikely they were talking. It's much more likely that he was hitting on her, and she was telling him to get lost."

"He did seem to enjoy messing with me."

"When Rory was collapsing?" Dean just shrugged, and looked down at his hands.

"Mr. Haden?" Dean asked abruptly.

"Chris, please. Mr. Haden makes me feel old."

"Okay, Chris. Do you blame me?"

"For what?"

"Rory. What happened with Lorelai. Everything that's going wrong."

"No. Who does?"

"Topher."

"Toph's been in a bad place since Lorelai left. So has Rory. So have I, come to that. But no one really blames you, Dean. Rory least of all, if that's what you were worried about."

"Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me? I should be thanking you. Rory's told me about all the times you took care of her so perfectly. She may be eighteen, but I'll always think of her as my baby girl. I'll always be indebted to anyone who's helped her, especially like you did. Sorry for how I flipped when you were about to kiss her."

"Any father would flip if they saw their seventeen-year-old daughter about to kiss a twenty-one-year-old man."

"Very true. But that's not really why I freaked out."

"Why did you, then?"

"Because Lorelai did. I wanted to prove to her that we could make it, that we thought alike, that it was all going to be okay. So what do you say? Friends?" Dean managed a chuckle, although his heart wasn't in it.

"Yeah, sure."

"You know Dean, these people here, they know me. They love me. Because, to them, I am the key to the Haden's bank account. And trust me, that's millions."

"Are you implying what I think you are?"

"Exactly. You want to go see her?"

"Maybe you should go in first. She's your daughter."

"You know, it's not the hospital. They'll let us both in at once. Then I can take her home, and you won't even need me to wave my ATM card in people's faces to see her." Dean's face broke into the closest thing to a smile that Chris had seen in over a week.

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Rory was asleep on the little bed in the little room that they kept for emergencies. The doctor they had called in was watching her. "What's wrong with her?" Christopher asked.

"She's too stressed. Her body was having a hard time coping, so she was more susceptible to disease. She's got a pretty bad fever, but she'll be okay."

"Dean!" Rory cried out deliriously.

"That's the one thing she's said. Either of you know what it means?"

"I'm Dean," he whispered, and walked over to her. He fell to his knees by her bed and kissed her burning forehead lightly. "I'm here now, Rory," he crooned to her. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she tried to kiss him. "No. Just rest now. I'll be right here."


	20. Chris or Lorelai and Luke?

1One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"Are you ready for this?" Dean asked.

"No," Rory replied. "It makes me feel sick just thinking about it. But I have to do it. I need to get my grades up, and I need to stop stressing myself, and it'll actually make me sick if I don't do this."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Can you talk to Luke? So I can be with her alone?"

"Okay."

"Kiss for luck, please." He laughed and kissed her. "Mmmm, another one." He laughed and unbuckled her seatbelt for her. She kissed him again, and tried to get on top of him.

"Not going to work," he laughed again.

"Making out with you?"

"Well, first of all, the steering wheel will get in the way."

"True."

"And second, it's avoidance. And as much as I enjoy this, you have to do what you came here for."

"Fine. You're a sucky boyfriend." He laughed again. "Why are you laughing so much today?"

"Well, two reasons. The first one is you seem happier than you have."

"True."

"And the second one is that Jess and Lindsay finally set a date for the wedding."

"Oh."

"It's in a month."

"Soon."

"Very Jess-like. Not giving his poor fiancee any time to plan her dream wedding. But anyways. I was wondering if you'd like to come."

"What good is a boyfriend if he won't invite you to weddings?"

"So that's a yes?"

"Of course. And I'm going to get this over with."

"Okay. Let's go."

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"Luke, give me coffee!"

"You've had five cups already."

"Yes, but what good is having a boyfriend who owns a diner if he won't give me coffee."

"And I repeat, you've had five cups already, which means I've given you five cups."

"Hey! Can I have a danish?"

"Sure. Here," he threw it on a plate and gave it to here, and went off to serve his other customers.

"Hey, Luke!" She called five seconds later.

"What?"

"A danish is nothing without coffee. Sad danish. Lonely danish."

"Fine. But I swear, this is your last cup. Junkie."

"Angel. You've got wings, baby," she said, and rocked forward to kiss him gently on the lips. Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Luke pulled back to bring the person coffee, when he froze. Lorelai turned to see what he was looking at. Rory was standing there with a stricken expression, Dean was beside her with his arm around her protectively, attempting to stand in between her and the world. "Rory," she breathed.

"I...I don't know why I even came. I thought, maybe, we could talk. But I guess that was a stupid idea."

"Rory, baby. No, stay. Talk."

"But I can't anymore. Every day, Dad sits around, waiting for you to come home. Praying that tomorrow might be different than today. Topher hasn't forgiven you. He's too close to Dad to forgive you when you're the cause of Dad's pain. And I thought that we could patch things up. See if maybe you felt bad. If you were sad, and you still loved him. But you don't. And right now, he's more my family than you."

"You hate me for falling out of love with your father?" Lorelai asked, horrorstruck.

"No. But I have to choose. You don't need me. Bye, Mom," Rory said, reaching her hand up to entwine with Dean's and lead him out of the diner.

"Dean!" Luke called. Dean took a breath, whispered something to Rory, pulled his hand free and walked back.

"What?"

"Do you think you can try to talk to her? For my sake?"

"Why? You have Lorelai, she has you, and the two of you don't need her. You're asking me to try to get her to abandon Christopher. He needs her. I've talked to him. He's a great guy. And he's dying inside. He needs Topher. He needs Rory. And he even needs me a little bit. Luke, I'm sorry. You've always been like a father to me. But, right now, I'm going to be there for your girlfriend's estranged husband. I'm sorry." Luke could only stare as the man he had always believed to be like a son to him walked off to be a son to his archrival in the hand of the woman he believed to be the love of his life.


	21. plans

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the W.B.

AN: I feel like I made Lorelai the "bad guy" but I didn't mean to. I need her and Rory to be at odds, and her to be in Stars Hollow for a couple scenes.

AN #2: I'm confusing myself with the dates of everything, so here's a timeline (it's for me as much as everyone else, but since I'm making it, I might as well put it up for everyone:

Early 9/06.- story starts

10/4/06- Rory and Dean start dating

11/6/06 -Rory's 18th birthday

11/7/06 -Lorelai moves out

11/15/06 -Rory gets sick

11/18/06 -Rory tries to make up with Lorelai

12/5/06 - this chapter (and I'm writing this on 12/5/05)

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Emily dialed the number again. "Hello? Yes, yes, I understand. But now would be a really bad time. Yes. Lorelai just left Chris. You didn't know that? Well, of course, Rory is a total wreck. She was so worked up over her mother leaving that she almost failed half of her couches, and collapsed. She was sick in bed for almost four whole days. Well, yes, I suppose that Lorelai did leave almost a month ago. So sometime soon. Maybe, in about two weeks. December 17th? Oh yes, that sounds fabulous. Wonderful talking to you. See you on the 17th."

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Over the past week and a half, ever since Rory had gone to patch things up with Lorelai, Dean had become a part of the Haden family. Topher had forgiven him for introducing Lorelai to Luke after he chose to stand by Chris, and Rory had been more than thrilled to have her boyfriend around more often. If it weren't for Lorelai, the thousand-pound elephant in the center of their lives, the Hadens would have had a perfect life.

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Lorelai and Luke were the exact opposite. Lorelai had rushed into the relationship to cut the pain her family had left out of her life. She was missing her husband, son, and precious daughter. She should have been miserable, and she would have been if she had stopped to think. But she hadn't. She had her relationship with Luke. She had a new job, running a quaint little inn called _The Independence Inn_, and a new best friend, the clutzy chef, Sookie. Whenever she wasn't working, or with Luke, she was joking with Sookie and her husband Jackson, or making a splash at the town meetings. She already knew who the town gossips were, who the town busybody was, and how incredibly nosy small-town life was. She'd found happiness, or something like it.

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"Dean, I'm so glad you could tear yourself away from your girlfriend to talk to me, your humble friend," Jess said sardonically as he sat down across from Dean in the quaint little café.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, she made you turn your back on Luke after everything he's done for you."

"How much do you know about that?"

"Not much. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay. Shoot."

"I want you to be my best man."

"Aren't you supposed to ask people someone this more than a week and a half before you get married?"

"Probably. But screw that." Dean laughed.

"Well, I'm there."

"And, I was kind of thinking, well, actually Lindsay was thinking that maybe Rory would want to be in the wedding, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't know how she'd feel about that. I mean, I don't know if she wants to go anymore. The whole thing with Luke and her mother, she's just not cool with that. And Luke will be in the wedding, right?"

"Yeah. Well, He'll be _there_, he won't really be in the wedding, though. It would just be you, Lane, Rory and Lindsay's dad."

"I could ask her. We haven't talked about it since...right before she found out about her mom and Luke. But I'll be there, even if Luke and I aren't on the best of terms. And maybe Rory will."

"Okay. Just call me within the next day. Lindsay's kinda pissed about the whole 'rush' thing."

"Will do."

"Dean?"

"What?"

"You knew that Luke was dating Rory's mom before she did. Why didn't you tell her?"

"I thought it was a phase. I thought she should hear it from Lorelai. I hate to see her sad, especially when I'm the one making her sad. There are probably a million reasons, some that I don't even know. Plus, I didn't know for sure. That was the first time I saw Luke after Lorelai left. I didn't want to break her heart over a hunch."

"You're a good man, Charlie Brown."

"Funny."

"I thought so."

"Have you heard from April lately?"

"Nope. I guess she decided to lie in wait for Luke's next girlfriend before she'd strike again."

"Great. She knew exactly how to get rid of Rachel. She'll probably get rid of Lorelai right when Chris is over it enough to let her back in, but not moved on, and then she'll break his heart again."

"Probably. And she'll laugh when she does it."

"I bet she'll set a webcam up in the Haden's house, so she can watch the whole thing."

"A webcam? Come on, she'll probably slip a computer chip that she designed herself into the lining of Lorelai's purse, where it will stick until it gets near some sort of wood that all rich people have in their houses. It'll tell her, and show her exactly what's going on. It'll probably even be able to pick up brain waves, and she'll be able to know what all of you are thinking."

"Jess. Nothing like that exists."

"But I'm sure darling April could design it."

"Oh, of course. It's _April_, after all."

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"Dean! Guess what?"

"What?"

"I got an A! On a huge test!"

"Rory. You always get As."

"No. I haven't gotten an A since Mom left. I think I can finally do this."

"What is 'this?'"

"Live. Without her. Be me without her," his face fell slightly, "what is it?"

"Nothing."

"No, tell me."

"Okay, well, you remember how I was telling you about Jess and Lindsay's wedding?"

"Of course."

"They want us to be in it."

"Me too?"

"You too."

"Really!"

"Yes."

"Well, what's the problem then?"

"Luke is Jess' uncle. He'll be there with...her.

"Oh."

"Are you okay with that?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You don't have to go. I do. But you don't."

"No. I'll go. I want to be with you."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Do you not want me there?"

"Of course I want you there. I just don't want Jess and Lindsay to be in the middle of your family problems."

"You think I can't handle it?"

"Did I say that? Of course I think you can handle it."

"What then?"

"I just...even if you can handle it, and she can handle it, and Luke can handle it, and I can handle it, it will be there. And you should only come that won't bother you."

"I'll be there." He grinned and lifted her up, spinning her in his arms and kissing her.


	22. cry

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Emily held the ringing phone to her ear. "Hello?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Lorelai?"

"Hey, Mom. This is a bad time. Do you mind if I call you back?"

"Do I mind if you call me back? Yes, of course I mind. If you didn't want to talk, you should have turned your cell phone off."

"But I'm waiting for an important call."

"Oh, so you're not too busy to talk to someone you want to talk to."

"A work call, Mom."

"On your cell phone?"

"Fine. I can see I'm not going to get anything done until I let you say what you want to say. What is it, Mom?"

"I was worried about you. No one's heard from you since Rory's birthday."

"No, Mom. _You_ haven't heard from me since Rory's birthday. If you check the calendar, you'll see that Rory's birthday was only about five weeks ago. There have been times that I haven't talked to you for two months at a time. And if I was dead, or dying at the hospital, they would have called my parents, so you can be fairly certain that I'm fine."

"Who's heard from you?"

"What?"

"You said that I haven't heard from you in a month. That implies that someone I know has. Christopher? Did you call Christopher? Oh, please say you called Christopher."

"No. Rory, she came to visit me."

"Rory."

"Yes."

"Rory went to visit you?"

"Yes, Mom, Rory came to visit me."

"So, you two are on good terms then, right?" she waited, but the only sound she could hear was a slight sniffle from her daughter. "Well, if she came to visit you, you must be."

"No, she came. But then she left. She told me she was being disloyal to her father, and she left." Emily's heart went out to Lorelai. She wanted to be mad at her -hate her for what she did to their family- but she couldn't. Lorelai was still her baby girl, her only child.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't lie to me. This is exactly what you wanted."

"No, it's not, believe it or not."

"Not." Emily sighed.

"No mother wants to hear her daughter cry," she whispered as she slid the phone into the cradle.

Lorelai stared at her phone. She had run. But it had caught her. It had caught her. She had lost everyone she had ever loved. She had thrown it away over a fling. She needed to see Luke. At least she had Luke. "Michel, cover for me please," she choked, running out of the inn.

"It will be hard. God only knows what I will do without you here. Go only if you absolutely must," was his sardonic reply. But Lorelai didn't hear it. She was already halfway down the street. She ran through the snow in her high heels and work clothes. She was insane. She was desperate. She was running. She was caught. She was falling apart. She needed Chris. She needed Rory. She needed Topher. She needed to be drinking the coffee her son made in the kitchen with her daughter, sitting in the chair her in-laws had given her for her wedding. She needed her home. She needed her mother. She wanted Luke. She was an idiot.

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Chris took a sip of his chai latte and grimaced as be turned back to his work. Who honestly _cared_ if the tech companies drowned. He remembered a time when he had loved this job. Not anymore. He got bored really easily. It said a lot about Lorelai that she had not bored him once in twenty-three years of being together, plus ten years of friendship. He banged his head against his keyboard. Why did everything in his life come back to her? Hadn't he had even one thing in his life that he hadn't included her in? What had she been doing in the past five weeks? Five weeks, and three days, actually. The one surprisingly good thing in his life was that Rory had stayed with him. Lorelai had left, but Rory stayed, and her boyfriend who had always viewed Lorelai's new boyfriend as a father had stayed too. Topher thought he didn't know about Luke. The other man. But he knew. He had heard her call out his name drunkenly that night. He had known for sure when Dean had asked if he blamed him. Damn the stupid society that said men couldn't cry. Crying helped.

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Rory was in Stars Hollow. Of course she had to be. Jess and Lindsay lived there, and their wedding was in two days. But she didn't want to be there. Dean had been right. She shouldn't have agreed to do this. She wouldn't be able to handle being in the same room as her mother. She was having trouble dealing with being in the same town as her mother. She wouldn't let herself cry, not in front of Jess and Lindsay, not so near to their special day, even though crying was the only thing she felt like doing.

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Topher clutched the token his mother had given to him. It hadn't been a present for anything. One day, she had just given it to him. An old token that she got at whatever sort of arcade they had when she was growing up. One little thing she had kept to remind her of her childhood, one little thing she had passed on to Topher, telling him to give it to his daughter, who would give it to her son, until it was an ancient heirloom. Their little joke. He was sick of the anger, and he couldn't hold onto it without trying, without physically calling up the picture in his mind of her with Luke. He didn't want to anymore. For the first time in his life, he collapsed in tears, crying over the token, crying over his mother.


	23. wedding bell blues, pt 1

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: To all the same people who have been saying that they're Java Junkies, but they think Lorelai works better with Chris in this story, I'm feeling exactly the same. Writing this story is even starting to make me into a Balcony Buddy.

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"I can't believe I'm about to be in a wedding! Especially since it's my boyfriend's ex who's marrying his best friend. Who I barely know!" Rory bounced, arranging and rearranging her hair, tugging at her dress so that it would lie perfectly, and examining all the makeup she had brought with her, trying to decide what she wanted to put on.

"As you've been saying for the last hour." Lane replied, trying to sound bored.

"I know. I've just never been in a wedding before."

"Very interesting the first time you told me that. The tenth time, not so much. That's the twenty-seventh time you told me that."

"Twenty-seventh?"

"I kept count."

"Ah. Well, I've never been in a wedding before," Lane looked at her incredulously, "What? I'm trying to break thirty."

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"I'm getting married" a tense Jess said in disbelief.

"You just figured this out?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Yes. I just figured it out. I decided to drive down to a church in a tux, but I didn't know I was getting married."

"Well, you like driving around in your tux."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, Jess, I'm dead serious. I honestly think you drive around town in a tux." Jess glared at him. "Okay, a termite walks into a bar, and says 'Is the bar tender here?'"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"A termite walks into a bar, and says 'Is the bar tender here?'"

"I heard you the first time. What are you trying to accomplish by telling me about a termite with a concussion?"

"Okay, you obviously didn't get that one. A pan of muffins is in the oven. One muffin says 'Wow, it's hot in here,' another muffin says 'Ahh, a talking muffin.'"

"You're telling jokes."

"Please tell me you didn't think the termite thing was serious."

"Where did you learn those jokes? If you can even call them that."

"Clara. And since you haven't laughed, I'm going to have to keep telling them to you."

"No!"

"Yes. My eleven-year-old sister's favorite jokes, until you laugh at them."

"Ahh, a talking muffin. That's funny. I'm laughing. Look, I am!" Dean looked at him, and Jess started cracking up.

"See? Much better than sneaking alcohol." Jess was laughing too hard to reply to that.

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Lorelai sat on the couch, waiting for Luke to come out of the bedroom. "Luuuke! We're going to be late!" she yelled as she stood up and walked over to the door. Luke was standing there, chatting happily on the phone.

"You're having a party, April? Yes I'd love to come. When is it? Right now? No, I'm sorry, my nephew's about to get married," he said regretfully. The second time April had ever asked him for something, and he had to say no? She never asked him for anything. Maybe he could be a little late to Jess' wedding. It's not like he'd even notice. "You know what? Weddings never start on time. My girlfriend can go ahead, and I'll be a little late. I'll see you in a couple minutes." Lorelai gaped at him.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"Oh, my daughter wants me to go to this party she's having."

"Your nephew's getting _married_. Your wedding is the most important day of your life! You're going to miss out on the most important day of your nephew's life for some party?"

"Your wedding was the most important day of your life?" Luke asked, picturing Lorelai, happily agreeing to spend her life with Christopher Haden. Another man. The picture was perfect, although, he suddenly realized, he didn't have a clue what Chris looked like.

"Yes!"

"With Christopher?"

"Yes! No, do not turn this around on me! We're not talking about me and Chris, or me and you for that matter. We are talking about your nephew, and how heartbroken he will be if you are not there on his special day."

"Yes. We're talking about _my_ nephew, who you barely know. Jess would just as soon elope, but Lindsay wanted a wedding, so he gave her a month's preparation, and helped her throw this together. Tell them I'll be there, and I'm sorry." Lorelai could only stare in shock at his retreating back.

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Lorelai waited until after the ceremony to look for Rory. She got back to the diner, where the reception was before she could find her. She was standing with Jess, Lindsay, Dean, Lane, and Lane's boyfriend Dave who had flown in from California the night before. She ran over, straight into her daughter's open arms.

"Rory," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry. So sorry."

"Where's Luke?" Jess asked, his voice somewhere between sad and angry. Lorelai didn't answer, how could she break the news? "Did precious April have a toothache? You know, the kind that kills you, and really, really fast. So if he wanted to see her again, he had to go right then?"

"She invited him to a party," Lorelai choked, "I'm so sorry, I tried to talk him out of it."

"Just like Dean tried to talk him out of going to play Boggle with her the night he was supposed to propose to Rachel." Jess sighed. "You know, you'd think he'd learn his lesson, you'd think he wouldn't drop everything and go to see her unless there was actually an emergency."

"Exactly like we said. April would wait until the time it would hurt the most possible people to reappear," Dean spat. He hadn't been mad at Luke before, he had just thought that Chris needed someone more than Luke did. Now he was mad at him.

"Yeah, she probably snuck in here and put up video cameras so that she could capture it all for her own pleasure. You might want to stop crying, Lorelai. My sadistic little cousin will laugh harder with each tear she sees," he spat venomously. Rory's cell phone rang. "And that's like her laughing at us. All of us." Rory flipped her phone open.

"Hello?"

"Rory?" Emily answered.

"Yes. What is it Grandma?"

"Can you get down here? Right now?"

"What? Why?"

"Just get here, please Rory," her eyes widened.

"Okay," she agreed, snapping her phone shut.

"What's wrong, Rory?" Dean asked, correctly interpreting the stricken look on her face.

"I...I don't know. But I think it's bad."

"Chris?" Lorelai asked, panicked, "Is he okay?"

"I don't know," she replied, color draining from her face. Jess and Lindsay looked at her, then at each other.

"Dean," Lindsay said, "Go with them."

"Are you sure?" he asked, "With Luke not here, and-"

"Go!" Jess shouted, and shepherded them out the door. "I'm so sorry, Lindsay," he said, his voice soothing for the first time since he had heard that Luke wasn't there, "this wasn't how it was supposed to be."

"No," she let her head drop on his shoulder, "no it wasn't."


	24. ambushed

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Dean drove, since Lorelai and Rory were too worried to drive. Lorelai had forgotten about Luke, and the problems that had seemed so important minutes before. Chris could be hurt, and that was all that mattered. What if he died before she could apologize?

Rory was frantic. Why had her grandparents called her? What was wrong? They'd never called her and told her that they needed her there before. Was her grandfather sick? And what about Lorelai? Were they on speaking terms, or had it just been a momentary lapse in judgement? Did she really care what was wrong, or was she just trying to win her back? And Dean, was he mad at her? He was missing his best friend's wedding reception for her. He had every right to be mad. Should that matter? If someone was dying, did it matter if her boyfriend was annoyed with her? Judging by her shaking hands, she would have driven the car right off the road, and so would her mother. The only car that was available was Dean's, so he'd end up mad at her when she crashed it anyways. And sad, since she'd be in the hospital. Which just brought her back to her first thought: who was hurt? Would they be okay.

Dean glanced at Rory, sitting in the passenger seat. He tried not to look at her too much, because whenever he saw the way she was trembling, he just wanted to pull over and try to make it better. But he couldn't. The only thing he could do was keep on driving, and hope that it was only the uncertainty that was hurting her.

Emily was sitting in the living room having drinks with the Huntzbergers when Rory, Lorelai and Dean got there. "Grandma!" Rory shouted, "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Rory was panicking, and Dean was focused on her, worrying, so Lorelai was the only one who could assess the situation. Emily Gilmore had called up her eighteen-year-old granddaughter and told her to come over. To have dinner and drinks with her rich friends and their twenty-something son. It wasn't too hard to put two and two together.

"Next time you want to try to set your granddaughter, who has a boyfriend, by the way, up with some rich boy, don't phrase it so that she'll think something's wrong," Lorelai spat. "Just because Dean's parents aren't rich, DAR country club members doesn't mean that he doesn't care for Rory. It doesn't mean that she loves him any less."

"You're not talking about Rory, you're talking about your own stupid little affair."

"Grandma," Rory said, her eyes begging Emily to deny what Lorelai was saying, begging her to say that it was just a mistake, a misunderstanding, that Lorelai was just making things up. Lorelai was wrong, she had to be, Rory didn't want to accept that her grandmother would do something like that. She didn't want to, but she didn't have any choice. There was no way to deny it. "I trusted you," she whispered, crying again, turning on her heel, and leading Dean out of the house.

"How could you do that to her, Mom?" Lorelai yelled, not realizing that she was making a scene in front of the three people Emily and Richard worked the hardest to impress. If she'd realized it, she'd have been making a bigger scene.

"How could you?" Emily was determined not to let herself look worse than Lorelai did to the Huntzbergers. "I only tried to help her. You abandoned her for a diner owner."

"I made a mistake. I want to fix it," her eyes begged her mother to understand, to encourage her, to say that was wonderful. She didn't expect it, but she wanted it more than she could possibly verbalize. She wanted her mother to hug her, and make it all better, make Chris forgive her, make Rory and Topher let her back in. There was still a tiny bit of her that believed that was what mothers were for, and hers would do what she needed.

"Wanting to fix it doesn't change the fact that you can't," Emily said coldly. She wasn't mad at Lorelai for wrecking her plans. She was mad at her daughter because she had left her life behind. She had just turned around and left, without even a phone call to her parents in over five weeks. Lorelai wouldn't be able to fix it until everyone forgave her, and Emily wasn't ready to forgive yet.


	25. wedding bell blues, pt 2

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Dean and Rory drove back to the reception. "Are you sure you're ready to be with a lot of people right now?" he asked her, "Because I could take you home."

"Yes...no...I don't know. I need catharsis."

"What kind of catharsis?"

"I don't know, I need to hit something, or throw something, or hurt something." He smiled.

"I have an idea."

"You're suggesting that we draw a chalk outline of a dead body in front of a store for catharsis?" she asked in disbelief.

"In front of Taylor's store. Jess did it when we were in high school. I've never seen anyone freak out so much, and he knew it was Jess, too. I'm not sure I want to know how he'll react if his prime suspect has a perfect alibi."

"If you don't want to know how he'll react, why did you suggest this?"

"I said almost. It's the sadist in me."

"Won't he just blame you?"

"Me? Taylor loves me. He thinks I'm a good influence on Jess, and he would have ended up breaking into the store if I hadn't 'become his friend out of pity.' But just trust me on this one."

"Seems like pathetic catharsis."

"It is. I've just been looking for a partner in crime to do this with when Jess is busy. We can do something else, too."

"Let's do this, then."

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Luke slipped into the diner and walked over to his nephew. "I'd say congratulations are in order," he grinned, clapping him on the back.

"How would you know?" Jess spat.

"Excuse me?"

"How do you know that I didn't freak out at the altar? How do you know that nothing went wrong?"

"Well, I-"

"Forget it."

"Why are you so mad?"

"Why am I so mad? You did not just ask me that. Why am I so mad? Well, let's think. You missed _my wedding_ to go to a little kid's birthday party. Why should I be mad?"

"I thought you didn't care about the wedding. I thought you just made it a big deal for Lindsay. I thought you wanted to elope."

"I did, a little bit, but that's why I needed you there. Don't you get it? I wanted to elope because I was scared. I don't like churches, or suits, or formal things."

"I didn't know that."

"That I don't like churches?"

"No, that you were scared. I thought you didn't think it was a big deal, so it wouldn't matter if I wasn't there. April never asked me to meet her friends before. She wanted her friends to meet her dad."

"April always ruins everything!"

"What? How can you say that? What did she do to you?"

"You mean, besides make my uncle miss my wedding?"

"Besides that."

"She hasn't done anything to _me_ besides make my uncle miss the most important moment of my life so far. But what about what she did to Rachel?"

"Rachel just left. Stars Hollow was too small for her."

"No, Luke! Rachel loved you, she wanted to stay, she wanted to be with you. But you stood her up on the night you were going to propose to her to play Boggle with a little girl. She left because she was too heartbroken after she found out. And if you're not careful, you're going to lose Lorelai the same way."

"I'm not going to lose Lorelai."

"Are you sure about that? Because the last time I saw her, she was having a breakdown, crying over you leaving to be with April. But then, Rory's grandmother called."

"And..."

"And something happened, I'm not completely sure what, but Lorelai didn't care about you anymore. She was too worried that Chris was hurt. You know, her husband." He knew that was harsh, but he didn't care right then. He just turned away and walked back to Lindsay, leaving a stunned Luke behind, wondering if Lorelai was still in love with Christopher, despite her insistence that she wasn't.

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Lorelai winced as she hobbled up the front walk of her old home. She'd never realized how far away she lived from her parents house until she'd walked the distance in the snow while wearing heels. And to think that she used to think she lived too close. One thing was for sure, she was never traveling without enough money for a cab, and a cell phone. She stopped in front of the door. Could she still go in? Was it still her house? Well, if it wasn't, that was just too damn bad, because her feet would fall off if she didn't get inside right then. She went inside, and collapsed on the couch.

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Rory and Dean came back into the reception, laughing. Their good moods were infectious. Soon they had Jess and Lindsay laughing again. Luke was upstairs. He didn't see that Lorelai wasn't with them. He didn't know how completely he was losing her.

_AN: I was going to have Rory and Dean's catharsis beegging Luke's truck, but that's definitely Rory and Lorelai's move, so I'll save it for them._


	26. try to make it better

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Luke/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Topher walked into the living room to read. "Mom," he gasped. Lorelai was asleep on the couch, her shoes in a muddy puddle by her feet. He walked across the room to her as if in a dream, and lightly shook her. "Mom," he whispered, "Mom, you came back!" Her eyelids fluttered open, and she smiled at him.

"Do you hate me?"

"No, of course not!"

"I thought you hated me."

"I thought I did, too, but I could never hate you."

"I was running, and then I fell, and then I got up, and I knew what I had to do."

"And what do you have to do?"

"I've got to make things right. I needed to get you to forgive me. I need to get Rory to forgive me. I need to tell your father that I still love him, and I want to be with him again."

"Well, you can cross one of those things off your list." Chris snapped from behind them. Lorelai and Topher turned to look at him.

"Chris," Lorelai whispered, and tried to get up and walk over to him, wincing and sinking back down as her sore feet hit the floor.

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Rory had stayed at the Independence Inn with Dean after the party ended, and Jess and Lindsay left for their honeymoon. Dean stood by the door, holding two cups of coffee. He grinned when he saw that she was awake. "Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he teased, kissing her lightly before giving her the coffee.

"About last night," she began.

"Don't worry about it. It was perfect just the way it was," he smiled.

"Really?"

"Yes. If we'd done anything else, it would have ruined it."

"Okay. Good. That's what I thought, too," he grinned, and kissed her again. "Wait," she said, holding up her hand, "but then, when I woke up this morning, and I saw your note, and I started thinking. Right now, you know me better than anyone else, and not just because I'm fighting with Mom. You know things about me that she could never really understand, even when we were at our closest."

"That doesn't mean we need to have sex, Rory."

"No, but I want to."

"So do I, but not when everything around us is a mess. It would feel like we were running away from something."

"So, we can talk about it when everything settles down."

"That sounds perfect. But, right now, if we don't leave, we'll miss the show."

"What show?"

"Taylor's reaction." She was up in a flash.

"We can't miss that! I want to see what you were talking about."

"You will. Let's go."


	27. aches and regression

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: All this angst is depressing me. Sorry about the childish, sappy R/D, but I really needed something to break up this angst for myself.

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"_I've got to make things right. I needed to get you to forgive me. I need to get Rory to forgive me. I need to tell your father that I still love him, and I want to be with him again."_

"_Well, you can cross one of those things off your list." Chris snapped from behind them. Lorelai and Topher turned to look at him._

"_Chris," Lorelai whispered, and tried to get up and walk over to him, wincing and sinking back down as her sore feet hit the floor._

"You can't do this," he said, "it's not fair."

"Chris," she whispered again, begging.

"Do you know how much I wanted to hear you say that again? That you still loved me. That you'd do anything to be with me again. For two weeks, I dreamed of nothing but hearing you say those words. For another two weeks, I longed for you so much that it physically ached. I put on a happy face, I pretended that I'd be okay, but you know what? I'm not. I can't deal with this. It's not about revenge, or making you feel how I felt when you left, but I'd like you to leave. I'm sorry."

"I can't."

"You can't what?"

"Leave. I can't stand."

"I'll drive you. I'll help you out to the car, and I'll drive you back to your lover's house. But after that, you're on your own."

"Chris, please. I came back to try and fix things,"

"Yeah, well, it's too late for that. You made your bed, now lie in it." He held out his hand, and helped her onto her feet, scooping her up in his arms when she winced. He felt detached from his body as he carried his shaking, sobbing wife out the door, and drove her to her new home.

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"Jess!" Taylor was shouting, his arms swinging like windmills. "Jess did this!"

"Jess couldn't have done this, he was at his wedding reception all night," Miss Patty argued. "I was there, I saw him, he never left."

"Yes, but he's done this once before. And who else would try something like this?"

"Maybe it was a real murder."

"Who in our town but Jess would murder someone?"

"I'm telling you, Taylor, Jess couldn't have done it."

"And even if he had a chance, which he didn't, he'll be on his honeymoon for a month," Kirk piped up.

"I want to know who did this! I want to see some punishments!" Taylor hollered.

"Oh, oh, he's turning red!" Rory whispered to Dean.

"This town isn't safe anymore! We should all evacuate!" Taylor continued.

"To New York City, because the crime rate is very low there," Dean added.

"What was that, young man?" Taylor turned viciously on Dean.

"Nothing, I was just telling my girlfriend how serious this is. Right, Rory?"

"Oh, yes. Of course. Awful," she agreed.

"Yes, I should have known better than to accuse you of anything. You're a good kid, Dean. I never did understand why you ran around with that Jess. Did he tell you anything about planning this?"

"No, he hasn't talked about anything but Lindsay in months."

"Yes, he was comparing everything pretty to her, like turtles," Rory added helpfully.

"Okay, we're leaving now," Dean said, leading Rory off. Once they were a couple blocks away, Dean stopped.

"What's wrong?" Rory asked.

"Nothing. I just couldn't be around him anymore without cracking up."

"I feel like we're ten years old."

"Me too. It's kind of fun, though."

"We're regressing as we speak."

"I know."

"I like it."

"Very fun," they collapsed in laughter against each other.

"Acting like you're ten has its benefits."

"Everything's so much more fun for ten year olds."

"Do you think we can stop the aging process?"

"Definitely. All we have to do is...um...no, never mind, it can't be done. Let's just enjoy this while it lasts, since it's probably our last chance to feel it."

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Lorelai collapsed on Luke's bed. She didn't know what she was going to do. She knew she shouldn't stay with Luke, but she didn't have anywhere else to go. She might not love him the way she loved Christopher, but she cared about him too much to treat him that awfully. She didn't know how she'd managed to sneak upstairs without him noticing, but somehow she had. "Lorelai," Luke exclaimed as he came into the room, "where have you been? Are you okay?"

"I needed to go see my mother about something."

"What?"

"And I walked back."

"All the way back from Hartford?"

"No, I walked to my old house. Topher gave me a ride home," he smiled at her use of the words 'old house' and 'home.' He didn't even realize that meant that she'd gone to see Christopher. It didn't dawn on him that Topher wasn't 16. He hugged her, and the mask she had worn dropped off. She was glad he couldn't see her face. She didn't think she could have held it for one second more. She was a horrible person. She'd been so awful to Chris, she'd thrown him away over an affair, and he'd had every right not to let her back in. Now she was being just as awful to Luke, and he didn't deserve it.


	28. Lorelais and Christophers

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Rory walked into the diner. She was going to do this. "Luke?" she asked. "Is my mother here?"

"No, you might want to check the Independence Inn," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because she works there."

"How long has she worked there?" Rory asked. After she had checked her mother's old office, she had assumed that Lorelai was sick. She had never even considered the possibility that she had quit her job, and started a new one.

"She started a couple days after she got here."

"Okay," she turned and walked away.

"Rory?" Luke called as she got to the door. "How's Dean?" she smiled slightly.

"He's good. He misses you, and Jess, but he's good."

"Good. And your father?"

"A wreck after he had to send Mom away again, but he'll be okay, eventually," she said as she walked out the door and into the street.

"What do you mean, again?" Luke called out after her, but she was gone. Had Lorelai tried to go back to Christopher?

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"Dad?" Topher asked. Chris was sick, so hehadn't gone in to work that day. "I brought you tea."

"Since when do we have tea in the house?" Chris asked, but they both knew the answer. There had been tea in the house since Lorelai left. "I miss her, Topher," he replied to the unspoken question, "every day since she left, I missed her. Then I told her to go. Why did I do that? I don't even know."

"You were scared. You wanted Mom back so much, it seemed too good to be true, so you assumed it wasn't true."

"Have you always been this insightful?"

"I was so mad at her," he ignored his father's question, "I forced myself to hate her. For over a month, I made myself hate my own mother, one of the two people you're supposed to love unconditionally. Maybe you don't need to love her unconditionally, but you love her enough that you shouldn't make yourself hate her."

"I could never even try to hate her."

"I wish I felt that way when she left. Right before she went, when she was on the stairs, I glared at her, and I told her to get out, without saying anything. I drove her out, because I thought I could hate her."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is. I tried to blame Dean, because he was there, and he was so close to Luke. I blamed Luke, and I blamed Mom, but it's not any of their faults. It's mine. She would have stayed if she thought I wanted her to."

"And it's my fault, for fighting with her, and not trying to talk things out. And it's Rory's fault, for not begging her to stay, because if Rory had asked, Lor would have. And it's Dean's fault for introducing her to Luke."

"You blame them?"

"No. But I'm willing to bet they blame themselves. It's no one's fault. We all know that, but we all blame ourselves anyways. Am I right, about you at least?"

"I guess," he agreed reluctantly, "but, Dad, if you had it to do over again, would you do it differently?"

"Of course."

"How much of it?"

"I would have fought for her right after she met Luke. I wouldn't have asked her to leave when you brought her home that night. If she'd left anyways, I would have talked to her, and heard her side of the story when she came back."

"You would have given her another chance?"

"I wish to god that I had."

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After a week of wearing sneakers with gel pads to work because her feet still hurt from walking the five and a half miles from the Gilmore house to the Haden house, Lorelai could finally wear heels to work again. Her heart hadn't healed quite as quickly. She had been avoiding Luke while she tried to find the words to tell him what had happened, and that she didn't love him. She had a feeling she'd be avoiding him for a pretty long time. She poured herself a cup of coffee as Sookie came into the kitchen. "Lorelai, you're not wearing sneakers anymore," she teased.

"No, I'm not."

"So, how are things with Luke?"

"Same as they've been since I almost killed myself walking back to Christopher."

"Oh, you didn't almost kill yourself."

"You try walking over five miles in very fancy high heels on very icy snow."

"I still don't believe that there was that much snow in Hartford. All the snow on the sidewalks here melted in that one day warm spell."

"That's because Taylor makes everyone shovel the sidewalks. There was a thin enough layer to melt. In Hartford, no one bothers, so the snow half-melted, and then refroze, making it very, very slippery, especially in the heels that you wear to a wedding."

"Okay, you win there. But enough about that, this is probably the third time we've talked about this. When are you going to talk to Luke?"

"I don't know. What am I supposed to say to him? 'Oh, hey, thanks for letting me crash here, but I'm actually in love with Christopher. I have been all along, I just wanted an adventure, something really exciting, like an affair, and you were right there.'"

"You could try that."

"Sookie!"

"What? It's exactly how you're feeling. Quick and to the point."

"But I can't say that to him!"

"Why not?"

"It's mean."

"But true."

"Which makes it meaner. I need to think of something that I can actually say."

"Add an 'I love you' in there somewhere."

"That's lying."

"Then how about 'I care about you?'"

"Sounds too fake."

"Ladies, I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Lorelai, you're offspring is here. And she's sitting in my chair and eating my low-fat cheese." Michel said as he walked in. "Go stop her."

"If it's my 'offspring' then all you have to do to save your cheese is mention that it's low-fat."

"You do it. She's your daughter."

"Fine," she said, walking out. She was scared. What if Rory hated her?

"What are you doing behind the desk?" Lorelai asked in shock. It was very unlike Rory to do something that she obviously shouldn't do.

"I wanted to annoy the concierge."

"Yeah, well you're eating his low-fat cheese." Rory's face contorted, and she spat her mouthful out into a tissue.

"It was sitting out in the dish where people put the little thing of mints with a sign that says 'take one.'"

"Yes, but honey, this is cheese."

"Well, in a town where someone is thick enough to believe that a chalk outline means there was a murder, maybe they give away cheese instead of mints."

"You knew about the chalk outline?"

"I did it."

"What?"

"Well, it was Dean's idea."

"That boy's a bad influence on you."

"I wanted to murder Grandma, then I wanted to cause some _actual_ damage, but Dean managed to convince me that the chalk outline would be enough."

"Like I said, that boy's a bad influence on you."

"How did you get home from Grandma's that night?" Rory asked, guilt apparent on her face.

"I walked."

"To Stars Hollow? I'm so sorry."

"No, babe, home."

"You asked Dad to bring you back to Luke, Mom? How could you do that?"

"No...I...I asked him to take me back. I told him I still loved him, and I wanted another chance. Well, actually, he overheard me tell Topher that I still loved him, he didn't even give me a chance to tell him."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I should've expected that. I just had this crazy idea that I could just go talk to him, and make everything better."

"Then why are you back with Luke."

"Because I care about him. I don't love him, not in the way I love your father, but he helped me. He's a good guy."

"So Dean's told me."

"I don't want to be the girl to butcher his heart."

"That's why you need to tell him. The longer you wait, the worse it will be."

"I know. I will. Rory..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry. For everything I did to you."

"It's okay," she stood up and hugged her mother. Rory and Lorelai Haden were best friends again.

"Oh, and, I was looking through the book."

"What book?"

"This book," Lorelai said, indicating the large book on the desk, where all the reservations were recorded.

"That's nice."

"Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Random."

"Not random at all. Is there anything you want to share?"

"Should there be?"

"About the contents of this book."

"What are you talking about?"

"At least tell me you were safe," Lorelai said, abandoning all pretenses.

"We weren't."

"What!"

"We never had sex, so we never had a chance to be."

"Okay, not nice, my heart's going about five times as fast as it's supposed to. Can you tell right before you have a heart attack? Because I was about to have one. I would've, too, if you'd waited one second longer to tell me that."

"Sorry."

"That wasn't funny."

"Oh, come on, it was a little funny."

"Not funny at all."

"Never do it again."

"Fine. You suck."

"I do not!"

"You tease me."

"I don't tell you I slept with a guy, and we weren't safe just to see your reaction."

"You've done equally terrifying things."

"Trust me babe, the only thing that could have made that more terrifying is if you'd added 'and I'm pregnant' to that sentence."

"The only thing that would make it more terrifying for you, you mean. Remember when I was five, and you told me that Grandma was the wolf from 'Little Red Riding Hood?'"

"You totally believed me."

"I cried every time I saw her for a year and a half."

"You were a stupid little kid."

"And then, there was the time when you made me sit through an entire day of horror movies. I couldn't sleep for two weeks."

"Honey, you were ten."

"I couldn't sleep for two weeks. I failed a test. I couldn't concentrate in school, and I never did my homework."

"Your dad got so mad at me."

"You deserved it."

"I did nothing!"

"Except terrorize your daughter."

"Exactly, I did nothing.


	29. Logan

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I just realized that I had anonymous reviews blocked, but I fixed that now.

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Rory was at the library, studying for finals. Dean had been with her, but he'd left to take his own finals. "Is this seat taken?" she looked up with a start. A blond, familiar looking man was standing there.

"Nope," she said, turning back to her notes.

"You're Rory Haden, right? Richard and Emily's granddaughter?" she looked up at him.

"You know my grandparents?"

"Yup."

"Not a good sign."

"I'm the guy they tried to set you up with. Logan Huntzberger."

"Good for you. That seat's taken now."

"I didn't know that's what they were planning. Seat still taken?"

"You can sit there, just be quiet."

"Okay. So, you got finals?"

"That's not being quiet, and yes."

"I just finished mine a couple days ago. I go to Yale."

"What's it like there?" He had her attention.

"It's fine, I guess. Why?"

"Was it hard to get into?"

"Not particularly. Why?"

"I'm applying to Yale as a backup, so I just want to know how someone who goes there likes it."

"Yale's your backup? What's your first choice, then?"

"Harvard."

"Well, Yale is just as good a school as Harvard. Some people say it's even better."

"My god, you sound just like my grandfather."

"Us Yalies tend to do that."

"Well, now I need to study, or else I'll fail, and I won't get in."

"Okay," he said, pretending to go back to his book. She was so absorbed in her notes and textbooks that she didn't notice him watching her. He didn't move, barely reading his book for the whole time she studied.

Dean walked back to the library after finishing his final. Rory was sitting in exactly the same position she had been in when he left. "Hey, don't you think you need a break?" he asked. She turned to face him.

"Dean! How did the test go?" she asked as he leaned over to kiss her.

"Fine. I think I did pretty well."

"And that's your last one."

"Yup."

"You're done for the year."

"Yup."

"Lucky."

"Very." They kissed again. "Have you been studying this whole time?"

"Pretty much. I talked to that guy for a little while," she said, pointing.

"Emphasis on the word 'little,'" he piped in, "Logan Huntzberger," he said as he extended his hand. Dean looked a little taken aback, but shook it.

"Dean Forrester."

"Did you bring me coffee?" Rory asked, drawing Dean's attention back to her.

"Nope. I'm going to make you come get it with me."

"But...I need to study!"

"You just studied for six solid hours."

"So?"

"So you need a break. You can come back and study more afterwards if you need to, but right now, you're getting coffee with me." She grinned at him, and gathered all of her notes together, and shoved them in her bag.

"Okay, if you insist," she stood up, and slung her bag over her shoulder, leaning her head against his arm, and slipped her arm around his back. He draped his arm around her shoulder, letting her head fall against his chest. Logan watched as they walked off like that. He'd never wanted the same things for himself that his parents did before, but he wanted Rory Haden. He didn't care that she had a boyfriend. She seemed too naive to notice that anything was going on until it had happened, and so did her boyfriend. It shouldn't be too hard for him to get her.


	30. Love Actually

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. The song "Christmas is all around" is from the movie "Love Actually" and belongs to whoever owns that (which I should know, since it's my favorite movie, but I don't know).

AN: No need to worry about Logan. This will be a R/D fic from start to finish. Sorry to any Sophies reading this.

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Rory and Dean were stretched out on the couch watching "Love Actually."

"How did I let you rope me into watching this with me?" Dean asked Rory.

"You don't like it?"

"Well, I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"You like it."

"It's the ultimate chick flick."

"It's funny. You like it. Stop complaining. And besides, there are movies more chick flick-ish than this one."

"Okay, I like it."

"I knew you would."

"No you didn't, you just wanted to watch it."

"Yeah. I always watched it with my mom, every year since it came out, the day before Christmas."

"Aren't you two talking now?"

"Yes. But I wanted to watch it with you. Now you'll know what I'm talking about when I start singing 'Christmas is all around us.'"

"Please don't. The line with an extra syllable really bothers me."

"Yes, Mr. Future editor."

"So, you've seen this a lot."

"Yeah."

"Do the Prime Minister and his secretary ever get together?"

"Maybe."

"And what about the guy who made the video of that girl on her wedding day? Do they ever get together? And does that guy cheat on his wife with the girl who wore the devil costume?"

"I'll tell you, but it'll cost you."

"How much?"

"I get to sing the line with the extra syllable thirty times before I tell you."

"I can wait to find out."

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Rory, Chris, and Topher sat on the floor in front of their couch, eating Chinese takeout, looking longingly at the presents neatly wrapped under the tree. "How are there so many?" Rory asked, "There are only three of us."

"I think someone's grandparents are feeling a little bad," Chris suggested.

"And Mom must have sent some," Topher added.

"I love Christmas," Rory piped up.

"We know," Chris and Topher said in one voice.

"I feel it in my fingers," Rory began to sing, as her father and brother groaned, "I feel it in my toes, Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows."

"Stop!" Topher begged, "You know you can't sing."

"Shush, I need to get to the extra syllable. It's written in the wind, it's everywhere I go, so if you really love Christmas-"

"Okay, you're there!" Chris exclaimed in relief.

"Dean wouldn't let me sing that part," she explained.

"And you listened to him when he told you to stop? Will you listen to me if I change my name to Dean?" Topher asked. They all laughed, and leaned back against the couch. They still felt the empty space where Lorelai should have been, alternately singing along with Rory, and yelling at her to stop with Chris and Topher. That was how they spent their Christmases, eating Chinese food in the living room, staring longingly at the presents, and laughing at each others antics. They were almost glad when the phone rang, and Chris had to go get it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I feel it in my fingers," Lorelai sang, "I feel it in my toes, Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows."

"What are you singing?" Luke asked.

"It's from 'Love Actually,'" Dean replied.

"How do you know that?"

"Rory made me watch it."

"It's written in the wind, it's everywhere I go-"

"Do not finish that, please," Dean begged.

"You know the next line?" Lorelai said, surprised.

"It has an extra syllable. I hate that extra syllable. It just doesn't fit." Luke laughed at him. Something with Lorelai felt off, but he couldn't quite tell what it was, exactly. He hoped she wasn't mad about the April thing, but it didn't seem like her to hold a silent grudge about something like that. Things with Dean, on the other hand, were fine. Luke had forgiven Dean for choosing to stand by Christopher, and Dean had forgiven Luke for everything with Lorelai and leaving Jess' wedding to see April, although he said that it wasn't exactly his place to forgive either of them.

"So, what do you usually do around here on Christmas?" Lorelai asked.

"Jess complains, Luke complains, and I make them get a tree and decorate it. Besides that, nothing. Nothing as exciting as eating Chinese in the living room and singing off-key," Dean offered.

"We do not sing off-key!" Lorelai said, indignant.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris hung up the phone and stared off into space. "Dad, what's wrong?" Rory asked, as she and Topher scrambled to their feet, and over to him.

"My father. He died."

"Grandfather Haden died?" Topher asked.

"Today. On Christmas."

"Dad," Rory whispered, and hugged him. Topher picked up the phone, and dialed a familiar number.

"Who are you calling?" Rory asked.

"Mom."


	31. A Very unMerry Xmas

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"Mom?" Topher asked.

"Hey, Toph. Merry Christmas," she laughed.

"Merry Christmas," he agreed halfheartedly.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Mom, Grandfather Haden died today. Dad just found out."

"Oh, no! How's he taking it?"

"He hasn't known for long enough to be taking it any way."

"I'll come over."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom."

"How could I not? And Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you and Rory go...do something?" she hinted. He grinned.

"Of course."

"Who was that?" Luke asked as she hung up.

"Topher. I have to go," she called over her shoulder.

"You're still in love with him, aren't you?" Luke asked. "Christopher?" Lorelai turned, and he saw her face. She didn't even need to say it. She'd never stopped loving him. "Go," he whispered.

"I'm so sorry, Luke." Then she was gone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris was alone. His father had died, and he was alone. Topher had made up some half-baked excuse about time alone being good for him, and he had dragged Rory off. The doorbell rang. He couldn't handle facing whoever was there, but he didn't have a choice. He walked over, and opened the door. Lorelai was standing there with a brown paper bag in her hand. "Milk and cookies?" he joked.

"Grown up milk and cookies," she said, pulling a bottle of tequila out of the bag. He stood aside, to let her in.


	32. alphabets at 9 o'clock

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I made Jess not be a jerk, so Logan's not going to be a jerk either. I don't like either of them at all, but I love Luke, and he's kind of a jerk in this, so how I actually feel about the characters isn't exactly how I'm portraying them (except for Dean and Rory), at least not in this story.

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"Remember, on our first anniversary, when we decided that we'd have a party after one of our parents died?" Lorelai laughed as she took another sip from the tequila bottle.

"Yes, god, yes!" Chris agreed, "I could never actually do that."

"Neither could I."

"We were awful."

"Were? We still are. Hey, let's think up one of your Dad's negative traits for each letter of the alphabet."

"Seems a little mean."

"We've already exceeded the limit of our pity for the guy. We drank the first half of the bottle that way."

"Okay, A, he was absent."

"Ooh, B, he was a bully."

"C, he was cold."

"D. Dreary."

"E. Evil."

"F. Freedom-inhibiting."

"G. Umm, gross."

"H. Hangover-inducing."

"So true. I, igloo-ish."

"You could've said icy."

"But where's the fun in that?"

"J. Jarring."

"K. Kuwait-y."

"L. Laryngitis."

"Laryngitis is not a trait!"

"Neither is Kuwait-y."

"Mmmmoving on to 'M.' Measely."

"Measly?"

"No, measle-y, like the measles."

"N. Nameless."

"O, 'orrible, like in 'My Fair Lady.'"

"P. Preeny."

"Q. Quack doctor, 'cause he couldn't do anything."

"R. Rear end of a donkey."

"S. Sleep-inducing."

"You stole my inducing, and I'm taking it back with, drumroll please, trainwreck-inducing for T."

"U, for unkindly."

"V, he vacillates."

"No he didn't."

"Well, maybe he did."

"He's your father. You should know how set in his ways he is."

"V, he doesn't vacillate enough."

"Much better. I feel mean."

"I feel mean, too."

"Why are we doing this?" Chris looked at her incredulously.

"It was your idea."

"Well, you know me better than to listen to every stupid, mean idea I have!"

"You're very persuasive."

"I did no persuading!"

"So?"

"How can I be persuasive if I did no persuading?"

"You have a persuasive face."

"Well, what's my face asking you to do right now?"

"I don't know, tell me," he said, choking. He knew exactly what she wanted. She moved closer, and he could feel her breath on his face.

"You don't really need me to do that, do you?" she asked, and he shook his head. He suddenly felt dizzy. Even as intoxicated as he was, he knew exactly what he was doing. He leaned over and kissed her.

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Rory drove through the streets, looking for a café that was open for Christmas. "It's hopeless," Topher moaned, "they'll all be closed."

"I know. But what are our options?"

"Hotel? Go visit your boyfriend?"

"Hotel, maybe, but we can't visit Dean. He's with Luke, and it would just be weird to tell Luke that we had to get out of the house so that his girlfriend could be alone with the man she's in love with and a bottle of tequila."

"Are they still dating?"

"I hope not, because if I know one thing about Mom and Dad, it's that they can't be in the same room alone without sleeping together, especially if alcohol is involved."

"Sure they can."

"Name a time."

"I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I'm sure that there must have been at least one time...maybe."

"Point is, we can't go to Dean, because that's just weird."

"Hotel at nine o'clock," Topher said helpfully, pointing.

"Look at the clock. It's after midnight," Rory tapped the little clock in her car.

"No, like they always say in spy movies. Straight ahead is twelve o'clock."

"There's no hotel at nine o'clock."

"There was when I said that. It's closer to seven now. And look, there's one at two o'clock."

"Okay, 007, let's go check it out."


	33. Boxing Day

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

-------------------------------------------------

"Good morning," Topher said as Rory sat up in the other bed. They had gotten the last available room, and, luckily, didn't have to pay until they left. The Hadens were fairly rich, but they didn't spoil their children by giving them their own credit cards.

"Happy Boxing Day," Rory replied.

"Boxing Day? What is Boxing Day?"

"The day after Christmas. It says so on all the calendars."

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Lorelai woke up in a very familiar position; huddled under the covers in Chris' arms. She'd lived for over seventeen years taking that position for granted, and it had never made her happier than it did just then, in spite of her hangover. "Good morning," Chris whispered in her ear.

"Happy Boxing Day," she replied.

"Boxing Day? What is Boxing Day?"

"The day after Christmas. Just look on the calendar," she rolled over to face him. "Hey," she whispered.

"Hey."

"So, you woke up this morning...upset about last night?" she asked.

"No."

"Regretting last night?"

"No."

"Excited and hoping for a repeat of last night?"

"I can answer that, but first I have a question for you."

"Okay."

"It's a big question to ask before coffee, especially with a hangover."

"I'll have to answer it anyways, so I might as well do it now."

"Okay. Why did you leave?"

"I had everything I wanted. I wanted to want again. Then I thought I wanted Luke, but I didn't really know what it meant to want until everything caught up to me, and I realized how much I wanted my life back. But Chris, wanting hurts. I don't ever want to want again."

"Okay."

"Is that a bad answer?"

"Is it true?"

"Yes."

"And you won't do something like that again?"

"No, never."

"Then it's the perfect answer."

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Rory and Topher went to a little café for breakfast. Between them, they had enough money for two coffees, and nothing else. "Rory Haden," an appraising voice said behind them. Brother and sister jumped and turned to face it.

"Oh, I know you!" Rory cried excited. "You told me your name. You're going to Yale."

"Logan. Who's the guy?"

"My brother, Topher. Topher, this is Logan."

"Nice to meet you. I'm considering Yale, I won't need to decide for three years, but I'm thinking about it." Topher offered.

"Are all Hadens this interested in Ivy League colleges, or just you two."

"Dad graduated from Princeton, and Mom went for three years, but then she took a year off to take care of me after I was born, and did her final year at Yale, because it was closer to Hartford. We're the only Hadens that haven't been to college yet." Rory explained.

"Ah. Do you want something to eat? My treat?"

"Our savior," Topher replied dryly.

"Thanks," Rory added.


	34. everything's good

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Rory and Dean were stretched out on her bed, making out. "So," she said, between kisses.

"Yes?"

"Things are good now."

"Yes, very good."

"And, we had talked about...maybe...you know," she struggled with the words. Dean stopped kissing her, and smiled down at her. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"

"If you're ready to do it, you can say it, too."

"I want to make love to you," she blurted, quickly, before she lost her nerve.

"And I want to make love to you, too," he grinned, and kissed her again.

"Now?" Rory asked.

"Do I want to now? Yes, but I want it to be more special than this."

"Good, me too. But I want to."

"You're not the kind of girl who would say something like that at all, not if it wasn't true. You don't need to keep reassuring me."

"I know that you wouldn't say it if you didn't mean it either."

"Of course not."

"So, where should we go?"

"I'm not sure. No cheap hotels."

"Obviously. My grandparents have a house on Martha's Vineyard."

"It's kind of far."

"I know."

"And I kind of got the impression that they hate me."

"But Grandma owes me. She'd do anything to get me to forgive her, and they only go up in the spring. After they bought it last year, they let my family go for New Years. They said that it was ours on New Years, but Mom and Dad don't want to go anywhere. They're very happy in their bedroom."

"Doesn't it bother you to think of your parents having sex?"

"Not anymore. You wouldn't survive in the Haden household if that thought bothered you too much. And don't think I haven't noticed you changing the subject."

"I didn't mean to. I've just never heard anyone mention their parents having sex in that offhanded manner. And, yes, if they really don't mind, your grandparents place on the Vineyard sounds good. The road trip part could potentially be pretty fun."

"I'll call and ask tonight, then I'll call you, and give you the verdict."

"Sounds good. I really want to kiss you again."

"Me too," he looked at her quizzically. "Kissing, right, let's go."

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"Hello?" Emily Gilmore asked again.

"Grandma, hi," Rory whispered.

"Rory?"

"How have you been, Grandma?"

"Fine. How have you been?" Emily wasn't an idiot. Even through the phone, she could feel that her granddaughter was still angry, but she was calling, and making small talk. That had to be a step in the right direction, didn't it?

"Good."

"Why did you call?"

"Well, I was wondering if your offer to let us stay in your house on Martha's Vineyard was still open."

"Yes, of course it is." How could Emily refuse Rory what was possibly the first thing she'd ever asked of her?

"Thanks," she was whispering again.

"And Rory?"

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you, Grandma."


	35. New Year's Eve

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"What were we thinking?" Lorelai cried out as she paced in front of the window, staring out into the snow.

"That Dean is a very nice boy, and Rory is a very careful girl, and they're in love," Chris offered.

"Why are you not freaking out about this as much as I am? Our only daughter is on her way to a house that's hours away, where she'll be alone with her college boyfriend!"

"Well, Dean's a great guy, and he really loves Rory, and she really loves him, so even if something does happen, at least it will be with someone who loves her for her."

"If something happens? Chris, something is happening now! I need to call Luke."

"Luke? Why?"

"He's like Dean's father, he'll know anything we should know about him." Before he could protest, Lorelai was dialing the phone. Maybe it wasn't such an awful thing, though. Lorelai wouldn't rest until she'd heard from someone who'd been close to Dean for years that he was a great young man, and would treat Rory right.

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Luke picked up the incessantly ringing phone, "Hello," he snapped.

"Luke, Luke, Luke!" Lorelai moaned desperately into the phone.

"Lorelai?" How could she call out of the blue like that? Did she think that he would forgive her and take her back? Would he if that was what she wanted? He didn't even know. All he knew was that it sounded like she was panicking.

"How much experience does Dean have?"

"Excuse me?"

"How much experience does Dean have?" she repeated crankily.

"You mean sexual experience?" he asked haltingly.

"No, cooking experience. Yes, of course sexual experience."

"None that I know of."

"That you know of? But...but that means he could have hooked up with half of the girls in Stars Hollow! Or at whatever college he goes to! Or both!"

"Yeah, except that's not like Dean."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know Dean, and that's not like him. What's wrong, Lorelai?"

"What's wrong is that lothario has wormed his way into my daughter's mouth, and heart, and now into her bed, and now he needs to die!" Lorelai yelled.

"Whoa, calm down," Luke could hear a man's voice in the background as Chris wrenched the phone out of his wife's hand. "Sorry about that," he told Luke.

"No, that's okay," Luke said, realizing that he must be talking to Christopher. He'd imagined his voice lower, deeper than this baritone. "Christopher?" he asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"I'm so sorry. About everything."

"If by everything you mean you're sorry that your almost-son's out having sex with our daughter, then you should be," he teased.

"That's not what I-" Luke started.

"I never blamed you, Luke. You don't have anything to be sorry for," Chris cut him off, "but I appreciate the apology." Luke nodded as a slight click indicated that Christopher had hung up. He was surprised at how little this whole thing hurt. He had thought that hearing Lorelai's voice would bring on a flood of unwelcome feelings and memories, but it hadn't. He was happy for her, he was glad that she had someone like Chris, who hadn't been afraid to wrench the phone from her grasp. He'd always been afraid to do that. He was even happy for Chris, who seemed like a nice, fairly easygoing, extraordinarily forgiving guy. And he was jealous. They were a family, a mother and a father worrying about their eighteen-year-old daughter, still in love. Could that have been him, he wondered, if he was more adventurous. If he'd gone to college with Rachel, if he'd left with her four years after she came back. If he hadn't run to Anna. If he hadn't run away from Anna. If Rachel had been less adventurous. He missed her, more and more every day since Lorelai left. How had he thought even for a second that visiting April was more important than proposing to the woman who was quite possibly the love of his life? Maybe if he'd believed Dean when he said why Rachel left he could have gone after her, chased her down, made it up to her. He missed her.

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Dean waited until she'd left before he got to work. He'd left the house with some half-baked excuse about needing to get things for breakfast, then purposefully forgot to get coffee, so that she'd have to go out and get some, giving him time to set up the room. He had bought her roses, and champagne, and all the corny things that people supposedly bought to make their first time like a fairy tale. "You should definitely not try any job that includes lying," Rory said from behind him. "You're not very good at it."

"Yes, but my romantic surprise wouldn't have been half as romantic if I'd said to you 'Hey, Rory, do you want to get out of the house so that I can surprise you with flowers and champagne, would it?"

"Romantic, yes, surprising, no. Did you really forget the coffee?"

"I didn't forget the coffee."

"Okay, good, I'll help you set this up."

"I purposefully didn't get any so that I'd have a way to get out of the house so that I could prepare your romantic not-so-surprise."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to sleep so late tomorrow that I don't need any coffee." He smiled.

"I guess so. Now, do you want to help me, or go sit in the living room area and pretend to be surprised when I come get you after I finish?"

"Flowers, please," she said, holding out her hands. "If you get to make it romantic for me, I should make it romantic for you."

"Yes, but I'm the guy. The guy is supposed to romance the girl, and sweep her off her feet."

"Says who? We're both virgins. We're in the same place, it's going to be a big deal for both of us. Why do you get to be the one to sweep me off my feet?"

"I never had you pegged for a feminist?"

"I'm not, not really. I just think that we're experiencing the same thing for the first time, and I shouldn't get more romantic treatment because I happen to be female."

"I love you so much," he whispered.

"I love you, too," she replied, the timbre of her voice equal to his. She rose on her toes to kiss him, and he stooped slightly to meet her. She deepened the kiss, as she willingly let him maneuver her towards the bed.


	36. New Year's Day

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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"Good morning," Dean said as Rory's eyes fluttered open.

"Happy 2007," she replied, giggling slightly as he closed the small gap between them and kissed her. "You know, I think I could wake up like this every year. Actually, every morning."

"I'm glad. So could I."

"It's perfect."

"This morning is the most perfect thing since last night."

"Even without coffee, it's the most perfect thing. Actually, it's better this way."

"How so?"

"Because I knowingly gave up coffee to make a near-perfect thing even better."

"I'm glad you feel that way, too. Although I didn't give anything up."

"You didn't have the opportunity."

"True. I would have, gladly."

"I'm glad," she said as she kissed him, and rolled on top of him. He deepened the kiss, pulling her even closer.

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"Happy 2007!" Lorelai trilled as she slid back into bed with Chris, holding a large tray with pancakes and coffee.

"You woke up before me?"

"It's January 1st. Rory's not here to wake us all up on her perkiest morning of the year."

"What about Topher?"

"Toph likes to sleep on New Years Day. It's the one day that the Christopher Hadens of the world sleep and the Lorelai Hadens of the world willingly rise, injecting themselves with coffee as they do, of course."

"Ah, yes, the day the world turns on it's ear."

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Rory and Dean drove back up the next day, filling Dean's car with everything that Rory thought they might possibly need, and as the daughter of Lorelai Haden, that was a lot. On the ferry, they stood on the deck, wrapped around each other to keep warm, and simply for the joy of standing so close together. "So, this whole bringing the car over on a boat thing?" Dean said, "Very cool. I could definitely get used to it."

"It's fun. That's my favorite part of going to the Vineyard. Actually, I didn't like it so much until this time."

"Oh, so you liked this mini-vacation?"

"I'd hit you, but that would involve letting myself get cold again. And it just so happens that I'm very comfortable and happy right now."

"Is that so?"

"That's so," they laughed, and waited as the ferry approached the shore.


	37. January

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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That January, Rory felt like her life had never been better. Her parents weren't fighting, she had never got along with her brother so perfectly before, she had Madeline and Louise, and she had a new friend, Logan. All of that made her life better than it ever had been before, but she had one other thing, something that made all those other things seem like blips on the radar. Barely even there. She had Dean, and she had more love for him than she had ever thought a person could feel for one person, and he loved her back in the same way, in every way there was to love a person. "You're thinking about Dean, aren't you?" Logan asked.

"Oh, hey, aren't you supposed to go back to Yale?"

"Not until Monday. Tomorrow, wow, soon. You still haven't answered my question, though."

"Well, I assumed it was a rhetorical question. I was obviously thinking about Dean, we've been friends for long enough for you to recognize the signs."

"The signs being a dreamy, sappy expression, which is actually quite frightening."

"Why?"

"Because your face is usually so focused on what you're doing. It's just weird to see it taking a break."

"Well, thank you, I think."

"No, it's a good thing."

"Can we stop talking about my facial expressions? It's starting to creep me out."

"Deal. How's school going?"

"Easy. Apparently the teachers' brains are still on winter break. Down in Haiti or something."

"Why Haiti?"

"Because it was the first to come to mind."

"Ah, well, unfortunately, I have to be going."

"I guess I'll see you when you have break, if you come back up here."

"I will. Tell Dean I said hi, okay?"

"You barely know Dean."

"True. Tell him I said hi anyways."

"Will do. Have fun at Yale."

"Fun?"

"And it's times like these that I wonder why we're friends."

"Have fun at Chilton."

"I will. Have fun partying and going to a couple of classes?"

"I will."

"Hey, if you're looking for a girlfriend, I know two girls. They'd probably kill each other for the chance to go out with you."

"Really? I suppose I have a few minutes."

"You're interested?"

"In them? Not particularly. In their identities? Very."

"Louise Grant and Madeline Lynn. Louise is probably more your type, she could keep up with your whole swinger lifestyle."

"Give her my number. I could have fun with that."

"Okay, bye, and if a fake blonde comes down to Yale,"

"I'll call her Louise, and take her to a club, get her drunk, bring her home, then tell her I don't believe in premarital sex."

"You're mean."

"Very. And I'd be more moral than you if it were true."

"Go away, Logan."


	38. fight

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

AN: I was going to have more Rory/Dean interaction, but I'm just going to finish it off. There are only a couple more chapters, and there will be an epilogue. Then I'm going to get to work on my other story, and finish that, which will have a lot more R/D. I'll do some more one-shots, and, if my muse stays with me, a post-finale DC story. Sorry it took so long to update. To all the Logan fans- he's going to seem like a jerk, but hang in there, and I will redeem him, at the end, even though I hate him.

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Rory drove down the road as fast as she dared. She couldn't believe she was late! It wasn't really her fault, since the clock broke, but she had a feeling Dean wouldn't see it that way. She'd been spending a lot of time with Logan while he was off from school for a couple weeks, and Dean seemed to think that Logan wanted to be more than her friend. Which was completely ridiculous. Even if he did, he knew better than to try anything. She was so lost in thought that she almost missed the turnoff for Stars Hollow.

When she finally found a parking place a couple streets down from Luke's Diner, it was 7:30. They had planned to go to a 7:00 movie at a theater ten minutes away from Stars Hollow. How had she not noticed that the clock had read the same time for five hours? She ran out of the car, and into the diner, not even bothering to take her keys out of the ignition. Dean was working, and he looked up, surprised, when she came in. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm late, I'm so sorry, the clock was broken, and I didn't notice until a little while ago. I'm so sorry," she panted.

"You forgot to check your voicemail, too. I called you about an hour and a half ago to say I had to cancel."

"Oh. Why?" he jerked his head at a little girl, who was setting up an experiment with salt and rice. "Who's that?"

"April. Anna asked Luke to take care of her, but he had just booked a flight to Cambodia."

"Cambodia?"

"Rachel's there. He's going after her, so when he asked if me and Jess if one of us could watch April and the diner, we said we could."

"How long was Luke planning on going to Cambodia?"

"I think he just made the reservations this morning. He only found out Rachel was there last night. Sorry you came all the way out here for nothing."

"No, it's fine. Do you need help with anything?"

"Well, if you could go ask April what she's doing, that would be nice. The diner's really crowded, I haven't had a chance to yet." She nodded, and kissed him before walking over to where April was sitting.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Rory asked.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." April said.

"I'm Dean's girlfriend."

"That's what they all say."

"What! Who else said that!" Rory panicked.

"Oh, I meant that in the general sense. How do I know you're not a kidnapper, or a strangler, and you're just trying to get me to trust you."

"Because I'm Dean's girlfriend."

"Yes. You told me."

"My mom dated Luke."

"And he broke her heart, and now you came to take it out on me."

"No, she left him, and got back together with my dad."

"So you want to hurt me because your mom left your dad for my dad."

"Okay, little girl, I'll make you a deal. You tell me what you're doing, and I go away and never talk to you again."

"I'm doing an experiment to see whether brown rice or white rice is better at preventing clumps."

"Thank you. Bye." Rory said, eager to get away from her. "She's doing an experiment with the rice," she reported back to Dean.

"Is she hurting anything?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay, good," he said, smiling apologetically at her as another customer yelled for him to come take their order. Rory walked over to the only empty seat in the whole diner, a stool at the counter. Why was everyone eating so late? It was after 7:30 on a Friday night. She took out her cell phone, blatantly ignoring the large sign banning cell phones right in front of her, and checked her messages. There was only the message that Dean had told her about, so she started playing Tetris on her cell phone. She'd wait for Dean to finish, and then maybe they could do something together.

"What can I get you?" Jess asked. Rory jumped, almost dropping her cell phone.

"When did you get here?"

"About thirty seconds ago. I drove Luke to the airport, which is why your boyfriend didn't have any help."

"Oh."

"You should go visit Lindsay. She's at home, you can wait for Dean there, I'll tell him where you went."

"Really?"

"Sure. I'm sure Lindsay won't mind, and you'll have more fun than you would sitting on a stool playing games on your phone."

"Thanks," Rory grinned and slid off her stool. She got almost got to the door before she turned around and walked back to the counter. "Did you tell me where it is?" she asked.

"Sorry," Jess said, and scribbled an address on a napkin, and handed it to her.

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Rory and Dean lay on the couch in Luke's apartment above the diner after it had closed. "You didn't have to wait, you know," he said, tracing his thumb over her palm.

"I wanted to," she smiled up at him, and he kissed her gently.

"Hey, why were you late, anyways. Not that it really matters, it's just not like you."

"I was at the library, and the clock broke."

"Do you have a big research paper, or were you just there for fun?" Rory hesitated. She knew he'd be mad, and she didn't want to ruin the moment. But how could she not tell him? She was allowed to hang out with her friends in the library. "You were with Logan," he said, correctly interpreting her silence.

"Yeah," she acknowledged.

"What do the two of you talk about?" his voice was strained, and she could feel how tense he was under her.

"School, books, Hartford snobs," she said, rolling onto her side and wrapping her arms around him, trying to reassure him. It didn't work. "Why can't you just trust me? He doesn't want anything more than friendship, and I definitely don't."

"I trust you not to do anything. But you're too modest and naive to recognize that he wants you."

"No, I'm not!" she said indignantly, sitting up. Just because he was older than her didn't mean he could read people better. He didn't even know Logan!

"It's not usually a bad thing, Rory. It's one of the things I love about you," it was his turn to try to pacify her.

"You love me because I'm just a little girl?" she snapped.

"That's not what I said," he tried.

"Yes, it is. I'm eighteen, I'm not totally clueless about how the world works!"

"No, you're not. You just don't know anything about men."

"And that makes me easy to manipulate, right."

"Yes, it does."

"And you would know, wouldn't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think the meaning's pretty clear," she snapped as she stormed out the door.


	39. comfort and cry

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

--------------------------------------------------------

Rory collapsed on her bed, sobbing. How could she have said that she thought Dean was using her? She'd just been so mad that he didn't trust her judgement, but she knew that he really loved her, and he'd never use her. She'd wanted to hurt him, she realized with a shiver. She'd wanted to hurt him for calling her innocent. "Rory?" Lorelai asked from the door.

"Leave me alone," she sobbed into her pillow. She heard her mother enter the room, and felt her sit down on her bed and stroke her hair. "I said go away!"

"What happened?"

"I yelled, and he yelled, and I yelled, and now he hates me," she managed to choke out, a part of her glad that Lorelai was there, and so persistent.

"Who, Dean?" Rory nodded. "Dean could never hate you."

"I said that he was taking advantage of me."

"To who?" Rory pulled her face out of her pillow to look at her mom, incredulous. "Sorry, I just thought maybe you told someone else, and he overheard you. Why did you say that?"

"I was mad at him. He said I was naive, and he didn't trust my judgement around other guys, and I got mad, and I wanted to hurt him." Lorelai opened her arms, and let Rory fall into them and cry.

----------------------------------------------------

Dean sat on the couch, staring out the door after her. Did she really think that lowly of him? "I heard the yelling," a voice said from behind him, jerking him out of his stupor. He turned to see April. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," he said automatically.

"I know. Do you want some hot chocolate? My mom always makes that for me when I'm upset." He looked at her with surprise and gratitude.

"No thanks, but thanks for the offer."

"I know you hate me, Dean, for what I did to Luke and Rachel." He looked at her in surprise. "I just wanted my parents back together. I know I pretend I don't care, and this is the wrong time to be telling you this, but you never give me a chance." She turned to go.

"I'm sorry, April. For never giving you a chance. I was used to it being me, Luke, and Jess. We're like a family, and I just couldn't accept that anyone else should be listed there, and not just as Luke's girlfriend, or Jess' fiancee."

"It's okay."

"You still want to make that hot chocolate?" he asked, his voice still heavy with pain.

"Of course," she smiled tentatively. He tried to smile back, but the pain in his eyes was glaringly obvious.


	40. kiss and make up

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

-------------------------------------------------

Dean watched the clock. Did the second hand always move so slowly? Anna wouldn't be there for another hour. He actually wouldn't mind spending time with April after the previous night, but he needed to go see Rory. "There's still an hour," April said.

"It's not that I want to get rid of you, you know," he said.

"I know. You just need to talk to her."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm really not all here this morning."

"We can do something together some other time. Jess is taking care of the diner, I'll just go down and tell my mom that he was watching me."

"You don't mind doing that?"

"Not at all."

"It can be really hard to get things through to him."

"I can try. I guess you're like my brother now. I can put up with a jerk of a cousin for my brother." He smiled at her, and although it didn't reach his eyes, she knew that he was touched.

"I'll talk to him before I go."

"No. Talk to him when you get back, and I'll try while you're gone. Go make things better."

"Thank you."

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Rory lay on the couch, watching all the sad movies in the house with a huge tub of ice cream in her lap, the floor around her littered with used tissues. She made no move when the doorbell rang, although she was the closest to the door. Chris went to get it, looking sadly at her. She could feel him wishing there was something he could do to make her feel better. He had sat with her for half an hour, and let her cry, and so had Topher. She smiled weakly at him, trying to tell him that she was okay. She could tell he didn't believe her, but the doorbell rang again, and he had to go get it. Logan walked in, and looked at her. "Did you and Dean break up?" he asked. If her senses weren't blurry from crying, she might have noticed the way his apologetic frown didn't spread to his eyes, and the slight note of excitement in his voice, but she didn't notice, and she merely shook her head.

"At least, I don't think so," she whispered, and started to cry again. He walked across the room to her, and held her in his arms, letting her cry into her shoulder. Chris, who had noticed Logan's excitement, stood where he was, arms crossed over his chest and glared at Logan until the doorbell rang again. The frosty look didn't fade from his face until he saw who was at the door this time.

Rory let Logan hold her while she cried. She probably would have let Saddam Hussein, or Osama bin Laden hold her had they offered. Oblivious of Christopher's return, Logan pulled back, and kissed Rory gently on the mouth. Her eyes flew open in shock, and she pushed him as hard as she could. "What the hell was that for? Even if Dean and I aren't together anymore, that doesn't mean I want you!" she yelled, and slapped him across the face as hard as she could. She gasped, shocked. She'd never hit anyone before in her life. Logan turned away from her, his gaze landing on two pairs of men's shoes. He followed the legs up to their faces, and grimaced. Rory, confused, looked to see what he was staring at. Christopher and Dean were standing there, their faces unreadable. Logan quickly fled from the house, and Chris stormed after him, after checking to make sure Rory was alright.

Rory stared into Dean's eyes. If he had come to her house, he couldn't be that mad at her. Or maybe he wanted to break up with her. Her eyes filled with tears again at the thought of that. "I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have said I didn't trust you."

"Well, looks like your mistrust was justified," she said softly, wiping at her lips as if she could rub off the skin that Logan had touched. His mouth curved up slightly. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I'm so sorry. I never thought that you were using me."

"I know." He stood across the room from where she was sitting for a minute, then he walked across the room and turned off the TV. "You thought we broke up?"

"I didn't know," she whispered. "We never fought before. Does that mean that we don't work anymore?" She started to cry at the prospect. He chuckled wryly.

"Couples fight, Ror," he said, and knelt by the couch, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Fighting is a part of a relationship. I actually can't believe we didn't get in any fights for the first six months of our relationship."

"Really?"

"Don't your parents ever fight?"

"They used to, all the time."

"Well, there you go."

"They haven't fought at all since Mom got back, though."

"They will. Maybe not for a while, but like I said, fighting is a part of every relationship. Sometimes it's even one of the best parts."

"How is it one of the best parts of a relationship? It seems like the worst."

"It is, in some ways. But you get a lot of feelings out in the open, and if you keep them all bottled up, you'll never be able to confront them. They'll just keep building up until you resent the other person if you don't get them out."

"I guess that is good."

"But the best part of fighting is that fights usually result in making up."

"Right," Rory said uncertainly. Making up sounded good, but not good enough to even begin to make up for the pain of the fight. She stared at him, waiting for him to clarify. He smiled, and leaned his forehead against hers, and lifted up his chin until their noses were touching. He stayed like that for a couple seconds, and she waited to see what he would do next. He tilted his head to the side a little, before leaning in the rest of the way, kissing her more passionately than she knew it was possible to kiss.


	41. epilogue

One Less Mistake

Summary: What if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant until she was 20? What if she had agreed to marry Christopher when she did? AU.

Pairings: Rory/Dean, Lor/Chris

Disclaimer: All of these characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB

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Lorelai and Chris ran around the house, trying to get everything ready. Rory was leaving for Harvard the next morning. Topher laughed as they ran into each other and fell to the floor, kissing. "Yeah, Rory will definitely be all set for Harvard if the two of you pretend to be her and Dean," he teased, making them get up and back to work.

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Rory folded the last of her clothes and put them in the moving box. The only things she had left to pack were the framed photographs of her and Dean. Her favorite was one frame that held two pictures, one of the two of them at his graduation, and one of them at hers. Dean had a matching one. There were also photos of them from different times during the year, mostly of them in the summer, when Emily and Richard had grudgingly let them go back to their house on the Vineyard for a month. She taped the box shut, and slid all the photos into a duffel bag that held everything she would need for her first night, and morning, then, on second thought, took them back out. The room looked so bare without them. She'd wait and pack them in the morning.

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Up in his room in Luke's apartment, Dean taped his last box shut, and slid his pictures into a backpack that held everything he would need for a day or so. "All set?" Luke asked as he took one of Dean's last two boxes.

"I'm ready," he said, zipping his bag shut, slinging it over his shoulders, and picking up the final box, following Luke out to his truck.

"So, I guess you're leaving now," Luke said.

"Yeah. This is it," Dean agreed. Luke grabbed his hand, and pulled him into a brief hug, surprising them all. Luke had never hugged Dean before, not even when he left for college, and he had only ever hugged Jess after he said that he was engaged to Lindsay.

"Bye," he said.

"It's not like I'll never see you again. I'm moving to Boston, it's only a couple hours away, and there's a nice, solid road connecting it to Stars Hollow. I'll be using that road fairly frequently, and you can use it, too," they laughed.

"See you around, Dean," Rachel said, and hugged him, too.

"Wow, a hug from both Danes, today's your lucky day," Jess teased.

"Do I get hugs from the Marianos, too?" Dean asked jokingly. Lindsay laughed, and hugged him.

"Well, I'm planning on making very good use of that road you were talking about, but I guess I could hug you anyways," Jess said.

"I'll miss you."

"No you won't. I won't go long enough without seeing you for you to miss me," Jess assured him.

"Well, if you must visit, I guess that would be okay," Dean joked, before turning to April, the last member of his farewell party. She jumped up and hugged him, "I'm going to miss you, too, you know," he said.

"I know," she replied.

"You're going to have to come visit a lot."

"I will, I promise."

"Good," he twirled her around once, then very gently lowered her to the ground, and got into his truck, ready to leave.

"Dean," Lindsay said, pointing down the street. His mother, father, and sister, Clara were standing in the distance, watching. He got back out of his truck, and walked over to them, his hands in his pockets. "Hi," he said.

"So, you're moving," Mrs. Forrester said. It wasn't a question. He nodded.

"You got my message, then?"

"Yes," she said. "We are proud of you, you know. You've really made something out of your life." He looked at his father, who nodded grudgingly. "We don't want to live like this, cut out of your life. We want to know you again, Dean."

"I don't think you ever really did," he said, "but we can try. As long as it's what all three of you want?" he turned the question to his father, who nodded, less grudgingly this time. "I'll call you when I get settled in."

"Bye, Dean," Clara said. He smiled at her.

"I don't think I've seen you since I left for college. You've grown up."

"I guess so," she agreed, "I was only twelve the last time I saw you."

"You're driving now, then?"

"A little."

"Maybe you can drive down to visit sometime," he smiled, and gave her a quick hug. "I have to go now." He left before he could see their faces again. He barely knew these people, they didn't seem like his family. A part of him wanted to keep it that way, but most of him wanted them to be a family again. Maybe they really could.

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Rory rearranged her pictures so they were closer together, so that she could easily pack them in the morning. She turned around as she heard a tentative knock. Logan was standing in the door. She turned back around. "I'm not going to attack you again," he said, "I just want to apologize." She turned again.

"Come in," she beckoned.

"I'm really sorry, Rory. I don't even know why I did it." She looked at him. "Okay, I do know. I was acting out a fantasy. I liked you the moment I met you, mostly because I knew you were in love with someone else. I wanted someone to love me the way you love Dean, and since I knew you were capable of loving someone in that way, I wanted you to shift your attention from Dean to me. I didn't know any other girls who are capable of loving like that."

"Okay," her voice was still cold.

"But maybe everyone is really only capable of loving one person the way you love Dean."

"I hope so," she said, smiling at him for the first time since he had kissed her.

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me, anyways. Maybe that's what soulmates are, two people who love each other like that. Like you and Dean."

"I hope you find yours soon."

"Well, I have a girlfriend now. I'm not sure if we're soulmates, but we're something pretty close."

"That's great!" she exclaimed, and hugged him. "What's her name?"

"Paris Gellar. She was on the paper with me at Yale. So, you're going to Harvard tomorrow?"

"Yeah,"

"You must be feeling kind of mixed about that."

"How so?"

"Well, you'll be starting your dream school, but you'll be leaving Dean." She grinned. "Or maybe not," he amended. "Is Dean moving to Cambridge?"

"Well, Boston, but that's a lot closer to Cambridge than Stars Hollow is to Hartford."

"Well, I have to leave. I just moved to New York City, and I need to get back. But I'm only leaving on one condition."

"What is it?"

"That someday I get a fancy envelope in the mail with a lacy, fluffy letter in it formally inviting me to the wedding of Ms. Lorelai Leigh Haden and Mr. Dean Forrester."

"Well, I'll be sure to pick out a special lacy, fluffy invitation just for you, since I doubt they'll all be lacy and fluffy."

"Then we have a deal?"

"Yes, we have a deal on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You bring Paris."

"Paris and I will watch you and Dean become Mr and Mrs Forrester, whenever in the next five years that is."

"Five years?"

"Just in case you want to finish college before you get married." She laughed.

"I'll see you then," she agreed jokingly.


End file.
